neck – ModLab

High-Dimensional Area of Acceptance Using Discrete Methods

by neckConnector Design November 8, 2018November 8, 201835 Comments

Physical connectors with self-aligning geometry aid in the docking process for many robotic and automatic control systems such as robotic self-reconfiguration and air-to-air refueling. This self-aligning geometry provides a wider range of acceptable error tolerance in relative pose between the two rigid objects, increasing successful docking chances. A new, more discrete flooding method for analyzing …

Modular Robot Connector Acceptance by Configuration Space Analysis

by neckConnector Design July 13, 2017November 7, 2018One Comment

Attachment and detachment between modules is critical for modular robot reconfiguration, and is a key design area for these systems. By re-purposing the interpretation of a well-known motion planning tool in configuration space obstacles for its encoding of contact geometry, we have developed a method for determining a metric of the region of error tolerance …

X-Face

by neckCKbot, Connector Design, Programmable Matter, Uncategorized November 12, 2012Comments are Disabled

Docking and undocking are common activities for robots (modular robots in particular). The relative frequency of this operation behooves us to ensure reliable alignment under uncertain conditions. We present a new face geometry that is numerically superior to existing alignment geometries. This geometry is intended for two-dimensional reconfigurable robots.