Abstract: A new selfreconfigurable modular robot DL-CubeII(Double L Cube) was developed, The DL-CubeⅡ adopted a small rotating hook connecting/disconnecting mechanism replacing internally balanced magnet mechanism in DL-CubeⅠ. Using wireless communication between relay microcomputer and modules, the DL-CubeⅡ has more reliable communication ability. In software, a heuristic self-reconfigurable method based module rules and macro motion was developed, it can plan robot motions with any initial configuration go forward to goal centroid location in complicated environments. Several hardware experiments and simulations were given to prove the reliability of connecting mechanism and feasibility of reconfigurable planning method.

Key words: automatic control technology, self-reconfiguration, robot, connecting mechanism, reconfiguration plan, heuristic search