Towards an efficient self-organizing reconfiguration method for self-reconfigurable robots

This paper deals with the essential technique for self-organizing metamorphosis of self-reconfigurable robots. A general model describing self-reconfigurable robots is proposed; the model is capable of expressing the topological structure of typical 2-D and 3-D self-reconfigurable robots. Afterwards, a self-organizing metamorphic strategy of self-reconfigurable robots, based on full-discrete local intelligence, is proposed. The modules concurrently process the local interactive information. A reasonable motion sequence for modules can be obtained by means of determining and evolving the rules of modules motion. Consequently, the global self-organizing behavior will be obtained, and the complexity of the algorithm is reduced. Simulation samples are provided to illustrate this approach and demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed strategy.