The Principle of Full Functionality – the Basis for Rapid Reconfiguration in Heterogeneous Modular Mobile Robots

Abstract

This paper proposes to design a heterogeneous modular mobile robot control system based on the principle of full functionality of the modules. The full functionality of a mechatronic device is the ability to perform its goal function using only its own facilities for executing instructions from an external control system. The external control system is a module-supervisor of modular robot in relation to the other modules of the robot. This module forms the control goal and verifies only the result of its achievement by executive module, but doesn't control the task execution process by the module. The full functionality of robot modules is achieved by designing each module as a full-featured electronic or mechatronic device with its own the information-measuring and control system that containing all necessary components: sensors, computing devices and actuators. The use of a network principle of the robot's information-measuring and control system construction and the Ethernet standards provides the capability of direct inter-module information interaction and the ability to rapidly form and alter the structure of the robot directly on the scene of the works and during the works themselves.