UBot: a new reconfigurable modular robotic system with multimode locomotion ability

Abstract

Purpose -The purpose of this paper is to introduce the design and the multi-mode locomotion function of the new reconfigurable modular robotic system -UBot system -which combines the advantages from the chain-based and lattice-based self-reconfigurable robots. Design/methodology/approach -The UBot modules the authors have designed are based on the universal joint and of cubic shape with two rotational joints and reliable automatic connecting mechanism. The modules are compact and flexible enough for locomotion and reconfiguration. The system can move in different modes to satisfy different terrains, through changing the modules' local connections and rotation of modules' joints. Findings -The UBot system can flexibly move in the modes of cross, loop, quadruped, snake-type and other type of locomotion modes. All the locomotion has been implemented in the physical experiments. Originality/value -The UBot module is the new reconfigurable module which has two joints in one unit of regular cubic space and four reliable automatic connecting surfaces. A group of the modules is able to change its connective configuration by changing their local connections and has functionality of the corresponding traditional robotic system. Since it can travel through terrains that may not be fully characterized ahead of time, the system can be used in a large variety of tasks, such as transportation, assembly, inspection and exploration.

Development of a tomato harvesting robot used in greenhouse

“…The load bearing capacity of the chassis is higher than 100 kg, the dead weight of the robot is about 540 kg, and the maximum velocity during operation is about 3.6 km/h. Embedded systems were used for the controlling of the chassis, which communicated with the main control system via the controller area network (CAN) bus [12,13] . Two operating modes were available.…”

A new meta-module for efficient reconfiguration of hinged-units modular robots

“…In particular, the meta-module we propose is valid for M-TRAN, but also for SuperBot [19], SMORES [6] UBot [25], PolyBot (G3) [24] and CKBot [15], which are edge-hinged modular robots. In Section III this result is extended to also deal with central-point-hinged modular robots such as Molecubes and Roombots.…”

Dynamic modeling and configuration adaptive control for modular reconfigurable robot

“…5 Utilizing the mobility, it can form the chain or the lattice architecture through the locking mechanism, and it can also implement more kinds of configurations. Several literatures of the mobile architecture were published, such as Trimobot, 6 UBot, 7 ModRED, 8 Scout robot, 9 AMOEBA, 10 Sambot, 11 360bot, 12 M 2 sbot, 13 and OMNIMO. 14 Previous researchers mainly focused on the structure design [12][13][14] and the locomotion and control.…”