A self-reconfigurable robot is a robot that is made up of a number of physically connected modules that can rearrange their connections to change the global shape of the robot. Given their morphological flexibility, self-reconfigurable robots have the potential to display a high degree of versatility: to move fast on flat terrain, modules may reconfigure into a circular shape and roll; to move in confined spaces, the modules may reconfigure into a snake and creep; and to manipulate an object, the modules may reconfigure into a shape specialized to the characteristics of the object and/or to the type of manipulation required.
Research on self-reconfigurable robots started in the late 1980s when the idea of cellular robots emerged [3]. The vision was to develop a system of autonomous cells that could jointly form different shapes to accomplish tasks. Over the past two decades, significant progress has been made and...