This book introduces the latest advances in modular robotics, and presents a unified geometric framework for modeling, analysis, and design of modular robots, including kinematics, dynamics, calibration, and configuration optimization. Supplementing the main content with a wealth of illustrations, the book offers a valuable guide for researchers, engineers and graduate students in the fields of mechatronics, robotics, and automation who wish to learn about the theory and practice of modular robots.

Covers the kinematics, dynamics, calibration, and configuration optimization of modular robots Introduces configuration-independent modeling and formulation methods based on group theory and differential geometry Offers new thoughts on the development of modular and reconfigurable robot systems

Autorentext

Prof. Guilin Yang, Prof. Yang received the B. Eng degree and M. Eng degree from Jilin University of Technology, China, in 1985 and 1988 respectively, and Ph.D. degree from Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, in 1999, all in Mechanical Engineering. He had been with the Singapore Institute of Manufacturing Technology, Singapore, as a senior scientist and the manager of the Mechatronics Group. He is currently a professor and deputy president of Ningbo Institute of Materials Technology and Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences, China. His research interests are in electromagnetic actuators, parallel-kinematics machines, compliant mechanisms, modular robots, and robotic automation. He has published over three hundred technical papers in referred journals and conference proceedings. He was a recipient of 2014 R&D 100 Awards. Prof. I-Ming Chen, Prof. Chen, Fellow of Singapore Academy of Engineering, Fellow of IEEE, and FellowASME, received the B.S. degree from the National Taiwan University in 1986, and the M.S. and Ph.D. degrees from California Institute of Technology in 1989 and 1994, respectively, all in mechanical engineering. He is currently a full professor of the School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. His research interests are in construction robotics, logistics robotics, wearable sensors, human-robot interaction, modular robotics, and reconfigurable automation. He was general chairs for a number of international conferences including ICRA 2017. He was a Senior Editor of the IEEE Transactions on Robotics, and is currently the Editor-in-chief of IEEE/ASME Transactions on Mechatronics.

Inhalt
Introduction.- Robot Module Design.- Modular Robot Representation.- Modular Serial Robot Kinematics.- Modular Serial Robot Dynamics.- Kinematic Calibration for Modular Serial Robots.- Optimization of Modular Serial Robots.- Modular Parallel Robot Kinematics.- Kinematic Calibration for Modular Parallel Robots.- Conclusions.