Abstract: In view of the characteristics of complex and changeful configurations of modular reconfigurable robot (MRR), an autonomous online identification method based on combining upper database and lower interface circuits is proposed. A homemade MRR is taken as research object, the mechatronics structures and the special interface circuits in four kinds of basic funciton modules including joint, link, base and gripper are introduced in detail. By taking into account the motion equivalence in multi-module combinations and the difference in output force/torque of similar joint modules, the configuration space algorithm is improved. By using the graphic theory, two new concepts called similar configuration spanning tree and same sequence configuration branch are defined respectively, and then the overall model for configuration identification of MRR is established. According to the specific identified objects in the model, based on establishing upper database and designing special lower interface circuits, the online configuration identification for MRR can be carried out autonomously. The method is verified through experiments on the MRR system, and the experimental results show that the identification method is feasible and effective.

Key words: Autonomous identification, Configuration, Modular reconfigurable robot