Studies and experiments related to modular structure robot

2006

A new generation of modular robots was studied based on a concept of mechatronic modules clustering. A generalization of mechatronic module consists of an electromechanical part driven by an electronic part implementing a control and communication unit and, a motor drive. The main property of the control is the scalability. The modules are connected by a very high efficiency real time communication network. The clustering permits to connect several modules in order to achieve a more complex robot architecture, starting from serial kinematic chains up to parallel kinematic machines configurations.

MATEC Web of Conferences, 2017

Modular robots are characterized by limited built-in resources necessary for communication, connection and movement of modules, when performing reconfiguration tasks at rigidly interconnected elements. In developing the technological fundamentals of designing modular robots with pairwise connection mechanisms, we analysed modern hardware and model algorithms typical of a fully functional robot, which provide independent locomotion, communication, navigation, decentralized power and control. A survey of actuators, batteries, sensors, communication means, suitable for modular robotics is presented.

2007

Journal of Intelligent & Robotic Systems, 2015

Employing Modular Robotic Systems (MRS) in different application domains confronts a large number of challenging problems in design, optimization, and planning, and so identifying characteristics of such problems is an important step toward finding proper solution approaches for them. In this paper, we address this issue and provide a comprehensive study on MRS through a structured survey about MRS characteristics and their applications. A novel framework called MITE is proposed to characterize both the properties and applications of MRS from four perspectives of Module, Information, Task, and Environment, based on more than 120 domainspecific features, supplemented by a mapping scheme for describing the interrelations of the four basic aspects of the Task component, namely, Application (for describing high-level tasks such as navigation and rescue), Behavior (for referring to constitutive behaviors like locomotion and manipulation which bring about Applications), Goal (for characterizing

Proceedings of the International Scientific and Technological Conference Extreme Robotics , 2016

We consider the modular principle for the construction of functional units of mobile robots. The main ideas of this concept and the general structure of the heterogeneous robot are presented. Basic functions of the robot are used to determine the minimum set of functional modules. For one of the simple configurations of the modular robot (the service mobile robot), we develop a motion module that is one of the main modules of the mobile robot. We present the design of this motion module and the result of a mathematical model of its control system. The control system combines the tactical level (for the construction of motion sub-targets and intermediate trajectories) and the execution level. The execution level of control is implemented on the basis of the system of slave control loops. Introduction Normally, the design of robotic systems (RS) is accompanied by information about the purpose of the device. Accordingly, all the constructive and program decisions made during the design focus on the achievement of the specific purpose by the final device. Because of this, when the scope of application of the RS is changed, the designer has to revise in a varying degree the device construct ensuring its full compliance with the given purpose. One of the modern approaches to robotic design (and to machinery in general) is to divide the device structure into individual functional components. Each component is responsible for some part of the robot functionality. This unit or module normally has a simpler structure because it is responsible for a single function only. As one of many components of the robot, the module can be easily replaced by a similar or more advanced module. Then, there is no need to redesign the robot: it will suffice merely to replace it by particular functional units. Therefore, the modular robots can provide higher economic efficiency.

This paper surveys modular robot systems, which consist of multiple modules and aim to create versatile, robust, and low cost systems. The modularity allows these robots to self-assemble, self-reconfigure, self-repair, and self-replicate. Therefore, the surveyed research covered the previous characteristics along with evolutionary robotics and 3D printed robots. These fields are interdisciplinary, so we organize the implemented systems according to the main feature in each one. The primary motivation for this is to categorize modular robots according to their main function and to discover the similarities and differences of implementing each system.

2011 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems, 2011

Reconfigurable modular robots can exhibit different specializations by rearranging the same set of parts comprising them. Actuating modular robots can be complicated because of the many degrees of freedom that scale exponentially with the size of the robot. Effectively controlling these robots directly relates to how well they can be used to complete meaningful tasks. This paper discusses an approach for creating provably correct controllers for modular robots from high-level tasks defined with structured English sentences. While this has been demonstrated with simple mobile robots, the problem was enriched by considering the uniqueness of reconfigurable modular robots. These requirements are expressed through traits in the high-level task specification that store information about the geometry and motion types of a robot. Given a high-level problem definition for a modular robot, the approach in this paper deals with generating all lower levels of control needed to solve it. Information about different robot characteristics is stored in a library, and two tools for populating this library have been developed. The first approach is a physics-based simulator and gait creator for manual generation of motion gaits. The second is a genetic algorithm framework that uses traits to evaluate performance under various metrics. Demonstration is done through simulation and with the CKBot hardware platform.

OMNIMO as a modular reconfigurable robot module which can navigate and perform some simple tasks, for complicated duties, proper robot type can be constructed by multiple homogeneous robot modules. It has five different active degrees of freedom which are four revolute and one prismatic. Mobilities of robot can be used as fixed, free and actuated. Each robot module is equipped with some sort of controllers, actuators, sensing elements, a wireless communication unit, power source and complementary electronic and mechanical components. The robot module is designed to move in three dimensional workspace as a hybrid, homogeneous and autonomous. This paper describes details of the sophisticated mechanical design, manufacturing details and hardware implementation of the OMNIMO.

2008

We present a universal modular robot architecture. A robot consists of the following intelligent modules: central control unit (CCU), drive, actuators, a vision unit and sensor input unit. Software and hardware of the robot fit into this structure. We define generic interface protocols between these units. If the robot has to solve a new application and is equipped with a different drive, new actuators and different sensors, only the program for the new application has to be loaded into the CCU. The interfaces to the drive, the vision unit and the other sensors are plug-and-play interfaces. The only constraint for the CCU-program is the set of commands for the actuators.

2015

The flexibility and control of a robotic arm has been a challenge since earlier days of robots. K.H.Wurst developed the first Reconfigurable modular robots in the context of manipulator arms. P.K. Khosla developed a system which combines the flexibility of reconfigurable modular hardware with modular programming tools, allowing the users to rapidly create a manipulator which is custom-tailored for a given task. In the present paper, kinematic homogenous 4X4 matrix calculation is used to control the 3-axes modular robotic arm. With this approach it is possible to develop algorithms for controlling movements. Actual robotic arm has been designed using INVENTOR modelling software. Joints are moved using DC servo motors and the end effector is positioned using a pneumatic cylinder which is actuated using a solenoid valve with flow control valve to adjust the stroke speed. Arduino is used for controlling the robotic arm. The testing was carried out on a Jominy End Quench Apparatus and it...