A novel mobile self-reconfigurable robot is presented.This robot consists of several independentunits.Each unit is composed of modular components including ultrasonic sensor,camera,communica-tion,computation,and mobility parts,and is capable of simple self-reconfiguring to enhance its mobilityby expanding itself.Several units can not only link into a train or oilier shapes autonomously via cameraand sensors to be a united whole robot for obstacle clearing,but also disjoin to be separate units undercontrol after missions.To achieve small overall size,compact mechanical structures are adopted in modu-lar components design,and a miniature advanced RISC machines(ARM)based embedded controller isdeveloped for minimal power consumption and efficient global control.The docking experiment betweentwo units has also been implemented.
