A multi-layered planner for self-reconfiguration of a uniform group of I-Cube modules

In this paper, we present a multilayered planner for the motion of modules in a uniform group of I-Cube self-reconfiguring modular robotic system. The planner uses metacubes, the high-level abstraction of 8C16L groups. It combines distributed approaches at the high-level with lowlevel trajectory computation for the actual modules which can be completed in O(n) steps where n is the number of the cubes in the system, and pre-defined rules for link motions. Mechatronic properties of the latest version of the reconfiguring modules are presented as well as results of the latest hardware and software experiments with the I-Cube modules.

[1]  Gregory S. Chirikjian,et al.  Useful metrics for modular robot motion planning , 1997, IEEE Trans. Robotics Autom..

[2]  Eiichi Yoshida,et al.  Experiment of Self-repairing Modular Machine , 1998, DARS.

[3]  Hajime Asama,et al.  Mechanisms for self-organizing robots which reconfigure in a vertical plane , 1998, DARS.

[4]  Wei-Min Shen,et al.  CONRO: Towards Deployable Robots with Inter-Robots Metamorphic Capabilities , 2000, Auton. Robots.

[5]  Toshio Fukuda,et al.  Cellular robotic system (CEBOT) as one of the realization of self-organizing intelligent universal manipulator , 1990, Proceedings., IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation.

[6]  Eiichi Yoshida,et al.  A distributed reconfiguration method for 3D homogeneous structure , 1998, Proceedings. 1998 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems. Innovations in Theory, Practice and Applications (Cat. No.98CH36190).

[7]  Leonidas J. Guibas.  Controlled Module Density Helps Reconfiguration Planning , 2000 .

[8]  Gregory S. Chirikjian,et al.  Design And Implementation Of Metamorphic Robots , 1996 .

[9]  Eiichi Yoshida,et al.  A 3-D self-reconfigurable structure , 1998, Proceedings. 1998 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (Cat. No.98CH36146).

[10]  Marsette Vona,et al.  A physical implementation of the self-reconfiguring crystalline robot , 2000, Proceedings 2000 ICRA. Millennium Conference. IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation. Symposia Proceedings (Cat. No.00CH37065).

[11]  Tad Hogg,et al.  Emergent structures in modular self-reconfigurable robots , 2000, Proceedings 2000 ICRA. Millennium Conference. IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation. Symposia Proceedings (Cat. No.00CH37065).

[12]  Mark Yim,et al.  PolyBot: a modular reconfigurable robot , 2000, Proceedings 2000 ICRA. Millennium Conference. IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation. Symposia Proceedings (Cat. No.00CH37065).

[13]  Eiichi Yoshida,et al.  Motion Planning for a Self-Reconfigurable Modular Robot , 2000, ISER.

[14]  Arancha Casal,et al.  Connectivity planning for closed-chain reconfiguration , 2000, SPIE Optics East.

[15]  Christiaan J. J. Paredis,et al.  Kinematic Design of Serial Link Manipulators From Task Specifications , 1993, Int. J. Robotics Res..

[16]  Nancy M. Amato,et al.  Distributed reconfiguration of hexagonal metamorphic robots in two dimensions , 2000, SPIE Optics East.

[17]  Gregory S. Chirikjian,et al.  Bounds for self-reconfiguration of metamorphic robots , 1996, Proceedings of IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation.

[18]  Arancha Casal,et al.  Self-reconfiguration planning for a class of modular robots , 1999, Optics East.

[19]  Daniela Rus,et al.  The Inchworm Robot: A Multi-Functional System , 2000, Auton. Robots.

[20]  Han Kiliccote,et al.  I(CES)-cubes: a modular self-reconfigurable bipartite robotic system , 1999, Optics East.

[21]  Pradeep K. Khosla,et al.  Mechatronic design of a modular self-reconfiguring robotic system , 2000, Proceedings 2000 ICRA. Millennium Conference. IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation. Symposia Proceedings (Cat. No.00CH37065).

[22]  Pradeep K. Khosla,et al.  Solutions for 3D self-reconfiguration in a modular robotic system: implementation and motion planning , 2000, SPIE Optics East.

[23]  Pradeep K. Khosla,et al.  Motion Planning for a Modular Self-Reconfiguring Robotic System , 2000, DARS.

[24]  Pradeep K. Khosla,et al.  A Modular Self-Reconfigurable Bipartite Robotic System: Implementation and Motion Planning , 2001, Auton. Robots.

[25]  Arthur C. Sanderson,et al.  Tetrobot family tree: modular synthesis of kinematic structures for parallel robotics , 1996, Proceedings of IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems. IROS '96.