Modular Reconfigurable Robot Structural Design And Automated Docking Of The Preliminary Study,

A Modular Reconfigurable Robot is built from many modules which have complete construct and independent function. Its reconfigurations can be classified into three classes: mobile reconfiguration,lattice reconfiguration and chain reconfiguration.Chain reconfiguration modular robots form systems with many degrees of freedom which are capable of being reconfigured to form arbitrary chain-based topologies. This kind of robot can adapt itself to many sorts of entironment, and so it is multi-purpose. The reconfigurations can be finished by hand.If each two modules can go along automatic docking, the reconfigurations can be finished of itself.The construct of a module in chain reconfiguration modular robots consists of three parts: frame, drive and communication system, connection plate. The paper focuses on the construct design, machining and assembling of modules. The methods for module function tests are explained, the results of tests testify the modules' performance accord with the demands on them. Three kinds of reconfigurations are discussed: snake reconfiguration, pedrail reconfiguration and four-footed reconfiguration. Then the experiments for testing the motion of the three reconfigurations are expatiated in the paper. The conclusions obtain from the experiments think that the design of module is reasonable and reliable.Automatic docking between two modules requires changes in constructs and functions of them. Many sensors are used in the modules for automatic docking. The most important of them are position sensors and distance sensors. This paper presents one method to compute the change of joint angles in chain using the information from position sensors, as well as another method to compute the six degree-of-freedom offsets between two connection plates using IR sensors among the automatic docking process. These computation methods provide some theoretic sustain for self-reconfiguration.