The CMU Reconfigurable Modular Manipulator System

Modular manipulator designs have long been been considered for use as research tools, and as the basis for easily modified industrial manipulators. In these manipulators the links and joints are discrete and modular components that can be assembled into a desired manipulator configuration. As hardware advances have made actual modular manipulators practical, various capabilities of such manipulators have gained interest. Particularly desirable is the ability to rapidly reconfigure such a manipulator, in order to custom tailor it to specific tasks. This reconfiguration greatly enhances the capability of a given amount of manipulator hardware. This paper discusses the development of a prototype modular manipulator and the implementation of a configuration independent manipulator kinematics algorithm used for path planning in the prototype.