Dynamic Power Sharing for Self-Reconfigurable Modular Robots

Dynamic power sharing is used to extend the operation time of self-reconfigurable modular robots [1]. In this area of research, power and energy consumption has consistently been a critical factor in the determination of a robot’s operation time. To this end, a method to dynamically share power would enable the robot to extend its operation time and allow it to function well beyond its individual energy life span. In this paper, a dynamic power sharing mechanism is proposed that provides such capabilities. It consists of five power sharing modes and is demonstrated on SuperBot, a self-reconfigurable modular robot developed at USC by the Polymorphic Robotics Laboratory at the Information Sciences Institute. The five modes include: 1) offering power 2) power bypass 3) receiving power 4) both charging the battery and receiving power and lastly 5) battery charging. The five modes that comprise the implementation will demonstrate how the self-reconfigurable modular robot SuperBot can share power dynamically. Finally, experiments were performed on SuperBot conclusively demonstrating that the operation time can be increased upwards of 30% more compared with the original hardware lacking the power sharing capabilities.