Dynamically reconfigurable robotic system. (7th report, A study of the concept, the mechanism and the control system of the self-organizing endeffector).

Abstract

This paper deals with a method of constructing manipulators based on the concept of the cellular robotic system (CEBOT). The method proposed here is that the robotic manipulator piks up desired cells sequentially to reconfigure required manipulator forms. The proposed universal manipulator consists of several types of cells which have their own elementary functions, such as rotating, sliding and bending functions. Every cell can communicate with other cells by using the proposed communication protocol. An experimental result of communication among cells is also reported. In this system, the manipulators must reconstruct themselves in order to efficiently execute various tasks. Thus, optimal structure is dealt with in this paper. This method contains a computational method of the optimal structure depending on tasks and an algorithm of the structure planning. This manipulator is constructed by using a large expert manipulator which has an optimal structure planning system. We show an experimental result of an automonous constructing cellular universal manipulator by using manipulators. This proposed total system includes the outer manipulator and will be applicable to a new kind of universal manipulator system in factories.