@Article{yoshida:ijrr:2002, author = {Yoshida, Eiichi and Murata, Satoshi and Kamimura, Akiya and Tomita, Kohji and Kurokawa, Haruhisa and Kokaji, Shigeru}, title = {A Self-Reconfigurable Modular Robot : Reconfiguration Planning and Experiments}, journal = {The International Journal of Robotics Research}, year = {2002}, volume = {21}, number = {10}, pages = {903--916}, month = {October}, doi = {https://doi.org/10.1177/0278364902021010835}, url = {https://unit.aist.go.jp/is/frrg/dsysd/mtran3/papers/IROS2001kami.pdf}, abstract = {In this paper we address a reconfiguration planning method for lo-comotion of a homogeneous modular robotic system and we conduct an experiment to verify that the planned locomotion can be realized by hardware. Our recently developed module is self-reconfigurable. A group of the modules can thus generate various three-dimensional robotic structures and motions. Although the module itself is a simple mechanism, self-reconfiguration planning for locomotion presents a computationally difficult problem due to the many combinatorial possibilities of modular configurations. In this paper, we develop a two-layered planning method for locomotion of a class of regular structures. This locomotion mode is based on multi-module blocks. The upper layer plans the overall cluster motion called flow to realize locomotion along a given desired trajectory; the lower layer deter-mines locally cooperative module motions, called motion schemes, based on a rule database. A planning simulation demonstrates that this approach effectively solves the complicated planning problem. Besides the fundamental motion capacity of the module, the hard-ware feasibility of the planning locomotion is verified through a self-reconfiguration experiment using the prototype modules we have developed.}, publisher = {Sage Publications Ltd}, address = {1 Olivers Yard, 55 City Road, London EC1Y 1SP, England} }