In Situ Self-Reconfiguration of Hexapod Robot OSCAR Using Biologically Inspired Approaches

In this section we have elaborated on biologically inspired methods and experiments done for real case hexapod robot self-reconfiguration. We have introduced a patent pending mechanism used for leg amputation by joint-leg walking robots which is practically used for reconfiguration cases by our hexapod robot OSCAR. Further, we have explained the artificial immune system based approach - RADE, used for monitoring the robot's health status and leg anomaly detection in joint-leg walking robot. We have also introduced and explained the biologically inspired Swarm Intelligence for Robot Reconfiguration (S.I.R.R.) method which is used for performing in-situ robot selfreconfiguration. The S.I.R.R method is used for spatial distributing of the robot's legs when a reconfiguration is performed. So, the robot achieves a stable spatial configuration even when one or more legs are malfunctioned and get amputated from the robot's body. Through experimental cases we have demonstrated how the hexapod robot OSCAR despite the anomalies that occur within its legs - manages to amputate the malfunctioned legs, self-reconfigures and continues with walking. In these experiments also tracking measurements were done on tracking the robot's heading while it is performing leg amputations and self- reconfigurations. The presented results from experiments on self-reconfiguration look promising, and therefore future work will consider an additional research on integrating selfreconfiguration with the walking robot's high-level behaviors aiming to improve the robot's heading after some reconfiguration is preformed. Additional work will be also done on improving the robustness and generic usefulness of the presented self-reconfiguration approach and its potential application for other types of robots.