Modular re-configurable robot drives

Abstract

We propose a modular platform for wheeled mobile robots that utilises a 6-edge honey-comb prism as its basic building block to realize robot drives of diverse geometry. In terms of functionality, we designed a specific wheel suspension for a drive-module comb that can utilise both, a standard wheel or a Mecanum wheel. A quick-lock interconnection mechanism for the comb modules allows us to quickly configure/reconfigure various robot drives and enables us to realise autonomous wheeled robots with the ability to connect to other robots or even to reconfigure the robot's geometry. This configuration capability offers many interesting opportunities for robotics research since we can adapt a robot in terms of its kinematic functionality, payload and size.