Proposal for a new concept for a robot in which the constructing module can be exchanged seamlessly

Although industrial robots have developed considerably since the end of the last century, and have been used in various fields, robotics is still being actively researched in Japan. Following the work of national research institutes and educational institutions, robot manufacturers have also put considerable resources into developing a new generation of robots. Moreover, society in general has high expectations of robots. To provide a low-price robot that can be widely used in the home, in medical treatments, in welfare, and in disaster relief, etc., a high-function, low-cost module that can easily be exchanged for maintenance or repair is very necessary. To achieve this aim, it is undesirable to develop robots based on different original standards from research institutes, educational institutions, and robot manufacturers, etc. Therefore, a common standard in robotic development needs to be established, and robots must be developed based on that standard. In this research, a new concept for the next generation of robot development is proposed. This concept includes a high-intelligence module, lower manufacturing costs, and an easy exchange operation.

Authors and Affiliations

1. Department of Electrical Engineering and Electronics, Kyushu Institute of Technology, 1-1 Sensui-cho, Tobata-ku, Kitakyushu-shi, Fukuoka, 804-8550, Japan

   Shunta Takahashi, Kohei Miyata, Yuhki Kitazono, Lifeng Zhang & Seiichi Serikawa

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Shunta Takahashi.

This work was presented in part at the 16th International Symposium on Artificial Life and Robotics, Oita, Japan, January 27–29, 2011