Future Work

Applications

So far, we have experimentally demonstrated the potentials of the new modular robot that can reorganize itself dynamically to adapt itself to the external environments.

This type of modular robot is expected to serve as a robot that should execute diverse tasks as inspection or exploration by adapting itself to the harsh environments inaccessible to humans. For instance, the possible applications include:

  • Planetary exploring vehicle:       Exploration by changing locomotion mode 

                                                   according to the terrain

  • Rescue robot:                          Search of injured people moving inside very 

  •                                                narrow spaces by changing its shape

  • Inspection robot:                     Inspection in such places as pipes, nuclear plant, or

  •                                                tunnels, which are hardly accessible to humans

  • Robot in narrow spaces:          Tasks that require difficult attitudes in narrow spaces,

                                                   like welding in ship-building plant.

 

 

Future Improvement

   Currently, all the modules are controlled by a host computer in a central manner to perform previously planned motions. Our future goal is to allow the modular robot to move or conduct tasks by adapting itself to unknown or dynamically changing environment through the following improvements:

  • Equipping modules with sensors to detect external environments

  • Implementing a distributed control system where each module decides its action

    in an autonomous way

     

Other research topics include:

 

  • Automatic and more efficient motion planning that is currently hand-coded

  • Improvement of connection and motion mechanism for more reliable motion