BioARS: Designing Adaptive and Reconfigurable Bionic Assembly Robotic System with Inchworm Modules

Designing a swarm of robots to address different tasks and adapt to various environments through self-assembly is one of the most challenging topics in the field of robotics research. Here, we present an assembly robotic system with inchworm robots as modules. The system is called BioARS (Bionic Assembly Robotic System). It can either work as a swarm of individual untethered inchworm robots or be assembled into a quadruped robot. The inchworm robots are connected by magnets using a "shoulder-to-shoulder" connecting method, which helps strengthen the magnetic connection. Central pattern generators are used to control the trot gait of the quadruped robot. Our experiments demonstrate that the bionic assembly system is adaptive in that it can pass through confined spaces in the form of inchworms and walk on rough terrain in the form of a quadruped robot. The proposed BioARS, therefore, combines the flexibility of inchworms and the adaptability of quadruped animals, which is promising for application in planetary exploration, earthquake search and rescue operations. We also provide several examples of directions for future research regarding our system.