Research On The Critical Technology Of The Modular Self-Reconfigurable Robot HIT-MSRⅡ

Modular self-reconfigurable robot (MSR) could change its configuration, expand motion patterns and execute many kinds of motion and manipulation tasks by utilizing the connectivity and inter-changeability between modules with the sensor's information, it shows perfect task adaptability, liability, expansibility and economy.A novel cubic homogeneous similarly lattice module structure was proposed in this paper, which includes active module and passive module according to the different connection mechanism. Every module has one rotating DOF and four connection planes. The connection mechanism which is driven by SMA was designed. Different electrical connectors were used in different modules. The fixed electrical connector was used in the active module and the spring electrical connector was used in the passive module. The MSR system has both the characteristics of lattice and string systems, so it makes the module more universal and the system more flexible. Besides, the module is small and light. And the modules can be connected firmly.Then the control system was designed. It is composed of master, relay unit and module unit. The master communicates with the relay unit by serial communication interface and the relay unit communicates with module unit by wireless communication network. PIC16F877A was used in the relay unit and the module unit as the controller. The principle and control method of the wireless communication network were introduced detailedly. And the communication area was computed too. And then the software system which includes master, relay unit and module unit was designed on the basis of hardware. The system can realize the centralized and distributed control task successfully.At last, a novel description of modules and their surroundings was presented and modular locomotion rule base was established. Based on the rule base, a reconfiguration locomotion planning algorithm combined heuristic search with limited-horizon search was proposed for the system. Simulation results indicated that the algorithm can generate reconfiguration locomotion series automatically and efficiently in complex environments with any initial configuration.