Development of an Omnidirectional Modular Robot
Keywords:
Omnidirectional robot, Modular robot, Mobile robot, Kinematics, Mecanum wheelsAbstract
The concept of modularity in mobile robots has been aimed to enhance their capabilities, including functionality, adaptability, or robustness. However, modularity often involves the complex design of robotic modules. In this context, this paper introduces the development of a reconfigurable modular mobile robot in differential drive configuration, which main advantage is the generation of an omnidirectional mobile robot when at least two modules are coupled, in consequence, mobility and load capacity are increased. Each robotic module comprises a frame, two Mecanum wheels, a controller, and an active connection mechanism designed to simultaneously perform two functions: 1) locking a module-to-module connection, and 2) automatic reconfiguration of the robot's architecture by lifting a freely rotating spherical wheel. Owing to the integration of Mecanum wheels, the kinematic analysis of differential drive configuration considers the influence of a rollers' angles relative to the robot frame, allowing the model to be extended to a system with $n$ coupled modules. To validate the kinematic models, a multibody simulation was conducted using Simscape Multibody Link\textsuperscript{TM}. Finally, a prototype is presented to showcase the modularity capability, including the docking and undocking process, as well as the omnidirectional mobility, even in the presence of backlash.
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