Research of topological analysis of Modular Reconfigurable Robots

To achieve the goal of automatic generation of robot kinematics, a method of topological analysis is proposed. Firstly, based on applying a modularized division method for robots and a module definition, an algorithm of discovering a robot configuration is proposed, and a module database is created. Then, a topological representation with a concept of joint is proposed, and a series of matrices are used to analyze a configuration. A model update method is also proposed for the condition of DOF reduced. A simulation of a robot with branches verifies the validity of the method. An experiment is implemented by employing the Modular Reconfigurable Robot System, and the results show that the topological analysis method is reliable and effective.