Development of a low-cost flexible modular robot GZ-I

Abstract

This paper presents a low-cost modular robot called GZ-I which is an improved version of the Y1 modular robot. After a related survey on the previous work, all aspects of the new modular robot are introduced systematically. GZ-I features an easy-to-build mechanical structure, four connecting faces, an onboard easy-to-use electric controller, and a friendly programming environment. Each module owns one rotational degree of freedom. After connecting in different modes, active joints actuated by RC servos endow the connecting modules with the ability of changing shapes in two dimensions. Then two kinds of modular robots, a snake-like robot and a three-legged robot, are built as examples to confirm the feasibility of our design principle and the robotpsila s capabilities. In the end a conclusion and an outlook on future work are given.