Review of Connector Docking Systems for Modular Robotic Systems

There are robots in the field of modular robotics with capabilities of self – reconfiguration. These have the ability to change their own shape at will, reordering connections with the purpose of adapting to new circumstances, new tasks or recovering from damages. In recent years, new systems have been developed to allow physically binding modules. The aim of this paper is to illustrate in a clear way, the different connection systems and the solutions that exist for coupling them in modular robots. Therefore this document is composed by the system used, important features, schemes to understand how they work and examples of robots where these systems have been implemented. As a conclusion, a number of features that should be taken into account when choosing a coupling system or designing a new one are shown.