An alligator inspired modular robot

Abstract

Due to challenges, such as information collection in huge water, propulsion at different scales and manipulation in extreme fluid environments, wide application of unmanned underwater vehicles (UUVs) is limited. In this paper, an alligator modular robot, composed by 14 small robots, was inspired from the locomotion and morphologies of alligators and microorganisms. With the undulatory body and beating legs, the assembled large robot was able to maintain fast and maneuverable swimming for tasks executions at large Reynolds number. With a biologically optimized body aspect ratio (3.47), small modular robots achieved effective propulsion in viscous fluid. Facilitated by a dissembling system, small robots were automatically released from the large robot frame and swam around with independent actuation systems. Hydrodynamic model for the large and small robot were formulated, based on which the propulsion for the modular robot in large and low Reynolds numbers (Res) were simulated. Experiments were conducted to compare with the simulation results to further validate the proposed modular robot design  .

Limpet II: A Modular, Untethered Soft Robot

“…Traditional robotics provide unique solutions to a specific real-world application, but they are usually hard to use in other applications due to the lack of their adaptive nature. 2 Modular robots or assemblies of modular units [3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14] are easier to adapt to new tasks and make it easier to repair the system, to replace modules, and to control the robot. Modular robots are usually made of some primary structural actuated units and some additional specialized units (e.g., grippers, sensor payload, feet, etc.).…”

Current trends in reconfigurable modular robots design

“…Examples of these types are CONRO, 10 Microtub, 54,27 Fable II, 40 PetRo, 35 and Alligator. 39 The Fable II 40 robot consists of two types of modules (active and passive) that users can assemble into different morphologies. Active modules hold the microcontroller, onboard power, and a radio device for wireless communication with the PC.…”

“…The Alligator-inspired modular robot 39 is a system composed of 14 modules and has a fixed configuration. Thanks to a dissembling system, small robots can be automatically released from the larger robot frame and swim around with independent actuation system.…”

“…Criss-cross-shaped SMA wire and springs are used for undocking. In this 16 2007 X Molecube 15 2007 X iMOBOT 19 2010 X Ubot 23 2011 X Crossball 25 2011 X SMORES 2012 X Transmote 29 2012 X M 3 Express 30 2012 X CoSMO 31 2013 X M-Blocks 32 2013 X Mobot, Linkbot 34 2014 X Kairo 3 33 2014 X Hinged-Tetro 38 2014 X PetRo 35 2014 X Fable II 2015 X Alligator 39 2015 X docking system, connecting and disconnecting can be achieved unilaterally. The docking surface also holds two pairs of IR transmitters and sensors for communication between connected modules, three electrical contact switch, and PCBs.…”

“…Since then many modular robots have been built: Fracta, 4 Molecule, 5 Crystalline, 6 Polybot, 7 M-TRAN, 8 CONRO, 9,10 Telecube, 11 Atron, 12 YaMoR, 13 Superbot, 14 Molecube, 15 CHOBIE, 16 Y1, 17 Roombots, 18 iMOBOT, 19 Sambot, 20 Pebbles, 21 THOR, 22 Ubot, 23,24 Cross-ball and Cross-cube, 25 Symbricator (Symbrion þ Replicator), 26 Microtub, 27 SMORES, 28 Transmote, 29 M 3 Express, 30 CoSMO, 31 M-Blocks, 32 Kairo-3, 33 the educational versions Mobot and Linkbot, 34 PetRo, 35 ReBis, 36 ModRED, 37 Hinged-Tetro, 38 Alligator, 39 and Fable II. 40 Modular robotics is a research field widely studied at the moment.…”