Unified Modeling of Unconventional Modular and Reconfigurable Manipulation System

TL;DR

This paper introduces a novel approach for designing, modeling, and controlling unconventional modular robotic manipulators using 3D printed components and an open-source software framework, enabling flexible and automatic configuration and operation.

Contribution

It presents a new set of 3D printable modules and a unified modeling strategy for unconventional manipulator configurations, integrated with a reconfigurable ROS-based software architecture.

Findings

Successfully assembled an unconventional manipulator with 3D printed modules.

Automated modeling and control achieved for the reconfigurable manipulator.

Demonstrated application in a vertical farm setup.

Abstract

Customization of manipulator configurations using modularity and reconfigurability aspects is receiving much attention. Modules presented so far in literature deals with the conventional and standard configurations. This paper presents the 3D printable, light-weight and unconventional modules: MOIRs' Mark-2, to develop any custom `n'-Degrees-of-Freedom (DoF) serial manipulator even with the non-parallel and non-perpendicular jointed configuration. These unconventional designs of modular configurations seek an easy adaptable solution for both modular assembly and software interfaces for automatic modeling and control. A strategy of assembling the modules, automatic and unified modeling of the modular and reconfigurable manipulators with unconventional parameters is proposed in this paper using the proposed 4 modular units. A reconfigurable software architecture is presented for the automatic generation of kinematic and dynamic models and configuration files, through which, a designer can design, validate using visualization, plan and execute the motion of the developed configuration as required. The framework developed is based upon an open source platform called as Robot Operating System (ROS), which acts as a digital twin for the modular configurations. For the experimental demonstration, a 3D printed modular library is developed and an unconventional configuration is assembled, using the proposed modules followed by automatic modeling and control, for a single cell of the vertical farm setup.