Modeling and Analysis of hHoneycomb—A Polyhex Inspired Reconfigurable Tiling Robot

Rizuwana Parween, Yuyao Shi, Karthikeyan Parasuraman, Ayyalusami Vengadesh, Vinu Sivanantham, Sriharsha Ghanta and Rajesh Elara Mohan
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Rizuwana Parween: Engineering Product Development, Singapore University of Technology and Design, 8 Somapah Rd, Singapore 487372, Singapore
Yuyao Shi: Engineering Product Development, Singapore University of Technology and Design, 8 Somapah Rd, Singapore 487372, Singapore
Karthikeyan Parasuraman: Engineering Product Development, Singapore University of Technology and Design, 8 Somapah Rd, Singapore 487372, Singapore
Ayyalusami Vengadesh: Engineering Product Development, Singapore University of Technology and Design, 8 Somapah Rd, Singapore 487372, Singapore
Vinu Sivanantham: Engineering Product Development, Singapore University of Technology and Design, 8 Somapah Rd, Singapore 487372, Singapore
Sriharsha Ghanta: Engineering Product Development, Singapore University of Technology and Design, 8 Somapah Rd, Singapore 487372, Singapore
Rajesh Elara Mohan: Engineering Product Development, Singapore University of Technology and Design, 8 Somapah Rd, Singapore 487372, Singapore

Energies, 2019, vol. 12, issue 13, 1-18

Abstract: hHoneycomb, a self-reconfigurable cleaning robot, is designed based on tiling theory, to overcome the significant challenges experienced by the fixed morphology cleaning robot. It consists of four regular hexagonal units and the units are connected by a planar revolute joint which helps in reconfiguration. This platform attains six distinct configurations (bar, bee, arch, wave, worm, and pistol) and these configurations have circular arcs and irregular concave and convex boundary that would help in accessing various obstacles in the cleaning space. This work addresses the mechanical design, system-level modeling, reconfiguration of the platform via hinged joint mechanism, mobility of the platform, polyhex based tiling set, and power consumption during reconfiguration. The strength of the mechanical structure is studied based on the structural analysis of the system using finite element method. Based on the natural frequency and deformation pattern, the proposed design is validated and proven to overcome structural failure and system resonance. The kinematics formulation of the platform during locomotion and dynamics of each block during reconfiguration are derived. The robotic system is modeled in Simscape multibody toolbox of Matlab and the mobility of the platform is studied using the numerical simulation. Based on the real-time current consumption of each joint during reconfiguration, the energy efficient configuration and tiling set are addressed.

Keywords: reconfigurable floor cleaning robots; kinematics and dynamics; polyhex tiling theory; system level modeling; tiling robot (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
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