A robot has a track assembly having tracks configured to move the robot in a first direction and a wheel assembly having wheels configured to move the robot in a second direction orthogonal to the first direction. A toggling assembly switches between the track assembly and the wheel assembly. The robot modules can mate with each other. The robot module has an elongated shaft with a head and a narrow neck. The shaft extends outward from the side of the robot module. A mating robot module has a clamping mechanism with opposing clamps which in an opened position receive the shaft. In a closed position, the clamps define an opening which matches and engages the cross-section of the neck of the elongated shaft. The clamping mechanism has a drive mode to drive the module, a clamping mode for docking, and neutral mode for alignment prior to clamping.


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    Title :

    Active Docking Mechanism for Modular and Reconfigurable Robots


    Contributors:

    Publication date :

    2016-09-08


    Type of media :

    Patent


    Type of material :

    Electronic Resource


    Language :

    English


    Classification :

    IPC:    B62D MOTOR VEHICLES , Motorfahrzeuge



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