Truss robots are highly redundant parallel robotic systems and can be applied in a variety of scenarios. The variable topology truss (VTT) is a class of modular truss robot. As self-reconfigurable modular robots, variable topology trusses are composed of many edge modules that can be rearranged into various structures with respect to different activities and tasks. These robots are able to change their shapes by not only controlling joint positions which is similar to robots with fixed morphologies, but also reconfiguring the connections among modules in order to change their morphologies. Motion planning is the fundamental to apply a VTT robot, including reconfiguration to alter its shape, and non-impact locomotion on the ground. This problem for VTT robots is difficult due to their non-fixed morphologies, high dimensionality, the potential for self-collision, and complex motion constraints. In this paper, a new motion planning framework to dramatically alter the structure of a VTT is presented. It can also be used to solve locomotion tasks much more efficient compared with previous work. Several test scenarios are used to show its effectiveness.

中文翻译：

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可变拓扑桁架的运动规划：重新配置和运动

桁架机器人是高度冗余的并联机器人系统，可应用于多种场景。可变拓扑桁架（VTT）是一类模块化桁架机器人。作为可自我重构的模块化机器人，可变拓扑桁架由许多边缘模块组成，这些模块可以针对不同的活动和任务重新排列成各种结构。这些机器人不仅可以通过控制类似于具有固定形态的机器人的关节位置来改变其形状，还可以重新配置模块之间的连接以改变其形态。运动规划是应用 VTT 机器人的基础，包括重新配置以改变其形状，以及在地面上的无冲击运动。由于 VTT 机器人的非固定形态、高维数、自碰撞的可能性和复杂的运动约束。在本文中，提出了一种新的运动规划框架，可显着改变 VTT 的结构。与以前的工作相比，它还可用于更有效地解决运动任务。几个测试场景被用来展示它的有效性。