Self-assembling and self-reconfiguring modular robot systems may one day be capable of achieving varied, complex tasks. Having the abilities of coordinated self-assembly and self-reconfiguration could allow a robotic system to adapt to different or hanging environments on-the-fly. These robotic systems have the potential to exploit self-healing abilities with a reserve supply of low cost robot modules for increased system robustness. They are particularly well suited to situations in which they must adapt to tasks not known a priori, such as search and rescue applications in unstructured environments, planetary exploration and deep space exploration. Two prototype SMORES modules have been developed at the time of this post.
Module Overall Design
Specification | Value |
Wheel Speed (No Load) | 23 RPM (9V) |
Pan Speed (No Load) | 23 RPM (9V) |
Tilt Speed (No Load) | 23 RPM (9V) |
Maximum Land Speed | 1.1 Body Length/s |
Wheel Torque (DoF 1 and 2) | 1.2 Nm |
Pan Torque (DoF 3) | 1.4 Nm |
Tilt Torque (DoF 4) | 2.3 Nm |
Static Module Power Dissipation | 1.7 W (9V) |
Overall Dimensions | 100 x 100 x 90 mm |
Module Weight | 0.52 kg |
Modules cantilevered under gravity (DoF strength) | 2 Modules |
Cost | $300 USD |
Docking Connector Design
Docking Connector Strength
Specification | Value |
Number of Ports | 3 Active, 1 Passive |
Average current draw | 0.85 A (9V) |
Holding force in tension | 60 N |
Max. holding force in shear | 3.6 kN |
Max. torsional load | 11 Nm |
Modules cantilevered under gravity (connector strength) | 3 Modules |
Min. time to undock | 0.8 seconds |
Max. time to undock (worst case docking key position) | 2.3 seconds |
SMORES – Highlights (self-assembly, self-reconfiguration, mobile modules, 4DoF, manual control, tele-operation)
Internal Gearing
Dock/Undock
Docking mechanism internals
Pan and Tilt Camera mount
Failed docking recovery
Publications
[SMORES.pdf]
@INPROCEEDINGS{JD:NK:MY:12,
author={Davey, J. and Ngai Kwok and Yim, M.},
booktitle={Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS), 2012 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on},
title={Emulating self-reconfigurable robots - design of the SMORES system},
year={2012},
month={October 7-12},
address={Vilamoura, Algarve, Portugal},
pages={4464-4469},
keywords={robots;self-adjusting systems;SMORES system;chain style reconfiguration;lattice style reconfiguration;mobile reconfiguration;selfassembling modular robot for extreme shape-shifting;selfreconfigurable robots;universal modular robot;Connectors;Gears;Lattices;Mobile communication;Robot kinematics;Wheels},
doi={10.1109/IROS.2012.6385845},
ISSN={2153-0858},
pdf={http://modlabupenn.org/wp-content/uploads/SMORES.pdf},}
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