Body deformable motion planning for metamorphic robot

In this paper, the method of motion planning for the metamorphic robot which can change the rigidity and the shape of its body is described. When making motions of the metamorphic robot, we can use not only the degrees of freedom in the joints but also the deformation of the links. In making use of the deformation by the length of the shortest path, this connects both ends of the deformed link. Balance constraints which depend on the friction between the body and the environment need to be considered in order to maintain the stability of the motions. In this time, we check the stability by computing contact forces considering the moving direction of the contacts. The motion planning is presented using Linkrobot which is made of metamorphic links and can deform its whole body.