Generalized software components for reconfiguring hyper-redundant manipulators

An application of Operational Software Components for Advanced Robotics (OSCAR) - a generalized robotic software framework - for kinematic control of hyper-redundant, self-reconfigurable systems is presented. OSCAR includes generalized kinematics, dynamics, device interfacing, and criteria-based decision making. The developed application allows an operator to interactively reconfigure modular chains into parallel mechanisms, gait structures, and multiarm systems while maintaining full kinematic control of each chain. Examples using spatial systems with various geometries are presented with application pseudocode to illustrate high-level program development using OSCAR.