A Study on Mobility of Ball-and-Stick typed Modular Robot by Self-reconfiguration

Abstract

NASA is planning robotic exploration of the dead geysers in Enceladus, a satellite of Saturn, where the life is thought to exist. This paper studies the mobility of ball-and-stick typed modular robot by changing its shape in response to uneven terrain. While the shape determination algorithm is complex due to the coordination of multiple modules in three dimensions, this paper proposes an approach by breaking it down into simpler problems. By using the reinforcement learning method, the proposed modular robot can learn the strategy to navigate itself into the unknown environment of Enceladus through repeated trials. A mobility algorithm is also under study for multiple modules, which is capable of reconfiguring in three dimensions.