volume 10 issue 4 pages 3534-3541

RS-ModCubes: self-Reconfigurable, Scalable, Modular Cubic Robots for Underwater Operations

Publication typeJournal Article
Publication date2025-04-01
scimago Q1
wos Q1
SJR1.481
CiteScore10.3
Impact factor5.3
ISSN23773766, 23773774
Abstract
This paper introduces a reconfigurable underwater robot system, RS-ModCubes, which allows scalable multi-robot configurations. An RS-ModCubes system comprises multiple ModCube modules, that can travel underwater with 6 DoFs and assemble with each other into a larger structure with onboard electromagnets. This system is designed to explore the feasibility of modularity and reconfigurability in underwater robotics, eliminating the need to customize mechanical designs for a specific task. We develop a modeling framework for reconfigurable robot systems, incorporating hydrodynamic effects via Monte Carlo approximation. A model-based feedforward Proportional Derivative (PD) controller serves as the baseline for control. Inspired by dexterous manipulation, we evaluated the robot's maximum task wrench space and power efficiency, compared against four commercial underwater robots. RS-ModCubes is validated via both real-world experiments and simulations, including individual and multi-module trajectory tracking and hovering docking.
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Zheng J. et al. RS-ModCubes: self-Reconfigurable, Scalable, Modular Cubic Robots for Underwater Operations // IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters. 2025. Vol. 10. No. 4. pp. 3534-3541.
GOST all authors (up to 50) Copy
Zheng J., Dai G., He B., Mu Z., Meng Z., Zhang T., Zhi W., Fan D. RS-ModCubes: self-Reconfigurable, Scalable, Modular Cubic Robots for Underwater Operations // IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters. 2025. Vol. 10. No. 4. pp. 3534-3541.
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RIS Copy
TY - JOUR
DO - 10.1109/lra.2025.3543139
UR - https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/10891552/
TI - RS-ModCubes: self-Reconfigurable, Scalable, Modular Cubic Robots for Underwater Operations
T2 - IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters
AU - Zheng, Jiaxi
AU - Dai, Guangmin
AU - He, Botao
AU - Mu, Zhaoyang
AU - Meng, Zhaochen
AU - Zhang, Tianyi
AU - Zhi, Weiming
AU - Fan, Dixia
PY - 2025
DA - 2025/04/01
PB - Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE)
SP - 3534-3541
IS - 4
VL - 10
SN - 2377-3766
SN - 2377-3774
ER -
BibTex |
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BibTex (up to 50 authors) Copy
@article{2025_Zheng,
author = {Jiaxi Zheng and Guangmin Dai and Botao He and Zhaoyang Mu and Zhaochen Meng and Tianyi Zhang and Weiming Zhi and Dixia Fan},
title = {RS-ModCubes: self-Reconfigurable, Scalable, Modular Cubic Robots for Underwater Operations},
journal = {IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters},
year = {2025},
volume = {10},
publisher = {Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE)},
month = {apr},
url = {https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/10891552/},
number = {4},
pages = {3534--3541},
doi = {10.1109/lra.2025.3543139}
}
MLA
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MLA Copy
Zheng, Jiaxi, et al. “RS-ModCubes: self-Reconfigurable, Scalable, Modular Cubic Robots for Underwater Operations.” IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters, vol. 10, no. 4, Apr. 2025, pp. 3534-3541. https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/10891552/.