Title :
A 3-D self-reconfigurable structure and experiments
Author :
Kurokawa, Haruhisa ; Murata, Satoshi ; Yoshida, Eiichi ; Tomita, Kohji ; Kokaji, Shigeru
Author_Institution :
Mech. Eng. Lab., AIST, Ibaraki, Japan
Abstract :
A three-dimensional self-reconfigurable structure made of identical units is proposed. Each unit has six arms on the surface of its base cube which can connect to neighboring units mechanically. By the connection, cubic lattice structure is formed. A unit can carry its neighbor unit from one node of the lattice to another by rotating its arm by 90 degrees. Repeating this movement, the structure can reconfigure itself to realize various 3D structures. General process of reconfiguration were proposed for this system. Four units were made and basic motions of self-reconfiguration were verified
Keywords :
robots; 3D self-reconfigurable structure; cubic lattice structure; robot; Arm; Automatic control; Control systems; Joining processes; Laboratories; Lattices; Maintenance; Mechanical engineering; Mechanical systems; Orbital robotics;
Conference_Titel :
Intelligent Robots and Systems, 1998. Proceedings., 1998 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on
Conference_Location :
Victoria, BC
Print_ISBN :
0-7803-4465-0
DOI :
10.1109/IROS.1998.727308
