Study on motion planning strategy of a modular self-reconfigurable robot

Motion planning of a self-reconfigurable robot is not an easy work in complicated environment. A novel relative orientation model was proposed to describe modules and their surrounding grids. A heuristic search planner used macro motion (HSM) and a PR (Pedrail Rolling) planner were developed. The HSM was proposed for a robot which has less than 12 modules and the PR for large number modules. Macro motion based on modular rule database is used to reduce the heuristic search space. PR planner converts large modules reconfiguration to few modules reconfiguration by setting some modules stillness and then uses HSM to plan reconfiguration. Some experiments are done by a robot with initial double line configuration such as traversing stairs, ravines and narrow hole. Experiments results show that the proposed plan strategy can plan modular motion series for any initial configuration to traverse complicated surroundings.