Editing Robot (section)

=== Modular robot ===
{{Main|Self-reconfiguring modular robot }}
Modular robots are a new breed of robots that are designed to increase the use of robots by modularizing their architecture.<ref>P. Moubarak, et al., Modular and Reconfigurable Mobile Robotics, Journal of Robotics and Autonomous Systems, 60 (12) (2012) 1648–1663.</ref> The functionality and effectiveness of a modular robot is easier to increase compared to conventional robots. These robots are composed of a single type of identical, several different identical module types, or similarly shaped modules, which vary in size. Their architectural structure allows hyper-redundancy for modular robots, as they can be designed with more than 8 degrees of freedom (DOF). Creating the programming, [[inverse kinematics]] and dynamics for modular robots is more complex than with traditional robots. Modular robots may be composed of L-shaped modules, cubic modules, and U and H-shaped modules. ANAT technology, an early modular robotic technology patented by Robotics Design Inc., allows the creation of modular robots from U- and H-shaped modules that connect in a chain, and are used to form heterogeneous and homogenous modular robot systems. These "ANAT robots" can be designed with "n" DOF as each module is a complete motorized robotic system that folds relatively to the modules connected before and after it in its chain, and therefore a single module allows one degree of freedom. The more modules that are connected to one another, the more degrees of freedom it will have. L-shaped modules can also be designed in a chain, and must become increasingly smaller as the size of the chain increases, as payloads attached to the end of the chain place a greater strain on modules that are further from the base. ANAT H-shaped modules do not suffer from this problem, as their design allows a modular robot to distribute pressure and impacts evenly amongst other attached modules, and therefore payload-carrying capacity does not decrease as the length of the arm increases. Modular robots can be manually or self-reconfigured to form a different robot, that may perform different applications. Because modular robots of the same architecture type are composed of modules that compose different modular robots, a snake-arm robot can combine with another to form a dual or quadra-arm robot, or can split into several mobile robots, and mobile robots can split into multiple smaller ones, or combine with others into a larger or different one. This allows a single modular robot the ability to be fully specialized in a single task, as well as the capacity to be specialized to perform multiple different tasks.

Modular robotic technology is currently being applied in hybrid transportation,<ref name="Modular flying car">{{cite news|url=http://www.aerobuzz.fr/spip.php?article2346|title=Le consortium franco-québécois Mix dévoile son projet de voiture volante|last=Rédaction|date=25 December 2011|publisher=aerobuzz.fr|language=fr|access-date=7 September 2012|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121006225358/http://www.aerobuzz.fr/spip.php?article2346|archive-date=6 October 2012}}</ref> industrial automation,<ref name="Ep&T Magazine">{{cite news|url=http://www.ept.ca/issues/story.aspx?aid=1000348213|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120705131305/http://www.ept.ca/issues/story.aspx?aid=1000348213|url-status=dead|archive-date=5 July 2012|title=Modularity in robotics provides automation for all|last=Scanlan|first=Steve |publisher=Electronic Products and Technology |date=September 2009 |access-date=7 September 2012}}</ref> duct cleaning<ref name="Plumbing and HVAC">{{cite news|url=http://www.roboticsdesign.qc.ca/assets/Uploads/PDF-content/InThePress/HVAC/Pluming+HVACmagazineapril2010.pdf|title=Duct cleaning robots |date=April 2010|work=Robotics Design Inc |publisher=Plumbing & HVAC|access-date=29 April 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130425130611/http://www.roboticsdesign.qc.ca/assets/Uploads/PDF-content/InThePress/HVAC/Pluming+HVACmagazineapril2010.pdf|archive-date=25 April 2013|url-status=live}}</ref> and handling. Many research centres and universities have also studied this technology, and have developed prototypes.