Reusable electronics and adaptable communication as implemented in the odin modular robot

This paper describes the electronics and communication system of Odin, a novel heterogeneous modular robot made of links and joints. The electronics is divided into two printed circuit boards: a General board with reusable components and a Specific board with non-reusable components. While the General board is common to the design of every type of module, such as power, actuator, sensor and structure, the Specific board is unique to each type of module. The communication system, one of the most important reusable components of Odin, is based on local buses that can be extended by bridging electrical signals.