Self-Soldering Connectors for Modular Robots

Dynablock

“…One approach to achieving reconfigurable three-dimensional shapes is self-reconfigurable modular robots [8,29,39,55]. These robots typically consist of a number of identical unit modules that can arrange themselves into different forms to reconfigure the shape.…”

“…Similar to soldering, thermal bonding uses heating to change the phase of a material from liquid to solid, and cooling to solidify the bond. For fast phase changing, it is common to use a low-temperature melting metal such as Galium or Field's metal, which melts at 40-80C degree [20,29]. Thermal bonding is used in recent work on liquid metal 3D printing [20,50].…”

“…Thermal bonding is used in recent work on liquid metal 3D printing [20,50]. Existing systems use a heater (e.g., resistive heating [29]), but cooling the metal at room temperature takes time. An alternative phase-changing connection is photochromic bonding, which leverages UV or visible light to change the phase of materials such as azobenzene [1] or liquid crystal materials [40].…”

Justification of the technical requirements of a fully functional modular robot

“…The mechanical properties of modular couplings impose certain limitations on the space of possible reconfigurations of the modular robot. In the majority of works mechanical, magnetic and chemical methods of connection are used, methods of connection based on artificial muscles are also actively investigated [5].…”

Algorithm for architectural origami

“…To build adaptable robots that interact easily with their environments, designs are needed that enable transformation of machine assemblies and shapes. Such reconfigurable robots have been made using hardware components that reshape according to the task in hand or the environment [2][3][4] . The greatest challenge in designing such robots is determining the geometric and mechanical parameters of both the machines and their components needed for various tasks and environments.…”