Self-reconfiguring modular robot: Difference between revisions

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Latest revision as of 18:58, 19 August 2025

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{{Short description|Robot that can rearrange its own parts}}

{{See also|Modular design}}

{{more citations needed|date=February 2010}}

{{External links|date=November 2024}}

'''Modular self-reconfiguring robotic systems''' or '''self-reconfigurable modular robots''' are autonomous kinematic [[machine]]s with variable morphology. Beyond conventional actuation, sensing and control typically found in fixed-morphology robots, self-reconfiguring [[robot]]s are also able to deliberately change their own shape by rearranging the connectivity of their parts, in order to adapt to new circumstances, perform new tasks, or recover from damage.

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==Application areas==

Given these advantages, where would a modular self-reconfigurable system be used? While the system has the promise of being capable of doing a wide variety of things, finding the "[[killer application]]" has been somewhat elusive. Here are several examples:

===Space exploration===

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|Elara, Prathap, Hayat, Parween (SUTD, Singapore)

|2019

|-

| [https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/abstract/document/9738480 Soft Lattice Modules]

| Lattice, Soft Modular 3D

| Zhao et al., (Dartmouth)

| 2022

|-

| [https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/abstract/document/10146508 StarBlocks]

| Hybrid, Deformable 3D

| Zhao et al., (Dartmouth)

| 2023

|-

|AuxBots <ref>Lillian Chin; Max Burns; Gregory Xie; Daniela Rus. "[https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9976216 Flipper-Style Locomotion Through Strong Expanding Modular Robots]" in IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters ( Volume: 8, Issue: 2, Page(s): 528 - 535, February 2023)</ref>

|Chain, 3D

|Chin, Burns, Xie, Rus (MIT, USA)

|2023

|-

| [https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-025-60982-0 Tensegrity-Blocks]

| Hybrid, Tensegrity Modular 3D

| Zhao, Jiang, Chen, Bekris, Balkcom, (Dartmouth)

| 2025

|-

|}

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;AMOEBA-I (2005)

AMOEBA-I, a three-module reconfigurable mobile robot was developed in Shenyang Institute of Automation (SIA), Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) by Liu J G et al.[httphttps://ieeexplore.ieee.org/xpls/abs_all.jsp?arnumber=1708645][https://doi.org/10.1007%2Fs11432-007-0068-8].AMOEBA-I has nine kinds of non-isomorphic configurations and high mobility under unstructured environments. Four generations of its platform have been developed and a series of researches have been carried out on their reconfiguration mechanism, non-isomorphic configurations, tipover stability, and reconfiguration planning. Experiments have demonstrated that such kind structure permits good mobility and high flexibility to uneven terrain. Being hyper-redundant, modularized and reconfigurable, AMOEBA-I has many possible applications such as Urban Search and Rescue (USAR) and space exploration.

Ref_1: see [httphttps://ieeexplore.ieee.org/xpls/abs_all.jsp?arnumber=1708645];

Ref_2: see [https://doi.org/10.1007%2Fs11432-007-0068-8]

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Three large scale prototypes were built in attempt to demonstrate dynamically programmable three-dimensional stochastic reconfiguration in a neutral-buoyancy environment. The first prototype used electromagnets for module reconfiguration and interconnection. The modules were 100&nbsp;mm cubes and weighed 0.81&nbsp;kg. The second prototype used stochastic fluidic reconfiguration and interconnection mechanism. Its 130&nbsp;mm cubic modules weighed 1.78&nbsp;kg each and made reconfiguration experiments excessively slow. The current third implementation inherits the fluidic reconfiguration principle. The lattice grid size is 80&nbsp;mm, and the reconfiguration experiments are under way.<ref>

[httphttps://creativemachines.cornell.edu/ the Cornell Creative Machines Lab (CCSL)]

[httphttps://creativemachines.cornell.edu/stochastic_modular_robotics Stochastic Modular Robotics].

</ref>