Truss robots are highly redundant parallel robotic systems that can be applied in a variety of scenarios. The variable topology truss (VTT) is a class of modular truss robots. As self-reconfigurable modular robots, a VTT is composed of many edge modules that can be rearranged into various structures depending on the task. These robots change their shape by not only controlling joint positions as with fixed morphology robots, but also reconfiguring the connectivity between truss members in order to change their topology. The motion planning problem for VTT robots is difficult due to their varying morphology, high dimensionality, the high likelihood for self-collision, and complex motion constraints. In this paper, a new motion planning framework to dramatically alter the structure of a VTT is presented. It can also be used to solve locomotion tasks that are much more efficient compared with previous work. Several test scenarios are used to show its effectiveness. Supplementary materials are available at https://www.modlabupenn.org/vtt-motion-planning/.

翻译：桁架机器人是高度冗余的并联机器人系统，可应用于多种场景。可变拓扑桁架（VTT）是一类模块化桁架机器人。作为自重构模块化机器人，VTT由许多可依据任务需求重新排列成不同结构的边模块组成。这类机器人不仅通过控制关节位置（与固定形态机器人相同）来改变形状，还能重构桁架构件间的连接关系以改变其拓扑结构。由于VTT机器人的形态可变性、高维度特性、高自碰撞概率以及复杂的运动约束，其路径规划问题极具挑战性。本文提出了一种能显著改变VTT结构的新型路径规划框架，该框架同样可用于解决比以往工作高效得多的移动任务。通过多个测试场景验证了其有效性。补充材料请参见https://www.modlabupenn.org/vtt-motion-planning/。