Timor Python: A Toolbox for Industrial Modular Robotics

TL;DR

Timor Python is an open-source toolbox that enables modeling, simulation, and optimization of modular reconfigurable robots, facilitating their integration into industrial applications and enhancing design flexibility.

Contribution

It introduces a standardized, Python-based tool for modeling and optimizing modular robots, filling a gap in simulation and design resources for MRRs.

Findings

Effective model generation for modular robots

Successful integration with existing simulation tools

Demonstrated optimization for specific use cases

Abstract

Modular Reconfigurable Robots (MRRs) represent an exciting path forward for industrial robotics, opening up new possibilities for robot design. Compared to monolithic manipulators, they promise greater flexibility, improved maintainability, and cost-efficiency. However, there is no tool or standardized way to model and simulate assemblies of modules in the same way it has been done for robotic manipulators for decades. We introduce the Toolbox for Industrial Modular Robotics (Timor), a Python toolbox to bridge this gap and integrate modular robotics into existing simulation and optimization pipelines. Our open-source library offers model generation and task-based configuration optimization for MRRs. It can easily be integrated with existing simulation tools - not least by offering URDF export of arbitrary modular robot assemblies. Moreover, our experimental study demonstrates the effectiveness of Timor as a tool for designing modular robots optimized for specific use cases.