The project seeks to extend the use of modular robotic systems and their research progress, which so far have an important academic aspect, to real-world applications. The intention is to demonstrate that a system based on an inventory of different, simple and low-cost fabrication modules can create a variety of robot configurations that have immediate applications.
The SMART system is a reconfigurable heterogeneous modular robot system composed of a set of interchangeable modules that form different robot or system configurations. Each module type aims to balance versatility, low-cost fabrication and functionality. The system can be used in different applications during teleoperation tasks. The system architecture is divided into modules, M-Robots and colonies.
The modules are base system components and are classified in three types of modules, i.e., Power/Control Module (P/C), Joint Module (J), and Specialized Module (S). An M-Robot is an autonomous entity made up of at least one P/C module and one or more J and/or S module types. Let a colony be defined as various M-Robots cooperating to fulfill a task.
Execution of cooperative tasks with modular robot configurations to demonstrate that modular robotic systems can successfully perform a cooperative task as standard robots can. A bar-pushing task is used as an example to explore the cooperation's performance between two wheel-based modular robot configurations.