Abstract
This paper presents a novel polyromb-based self-reconfigurable domestic floor cleaning robot called "hRhombo" that consists of four rhombus-shaped modules connected with three revolute joints. The mechanical design of the robot gives rise to an over-actuated mathematical model. The mechanical design, electronics layout, kinematics relations, reconfiguration theory and trajectory tracking methodology for the robot are discussed. The forward kinematics and inverse kinematics are derived in terms of the angle between the modules and the wheel steering angles. The tracking controller exploits a poly-cycle approach, where each wheel has a different reference path depending on the current configuration of the robot. The model predictive controller technique is used to design optimal controller for four unicycles, modeling the four wheels. The numerical simulations and experiments reveal the usefulness of the robot in the domestic environment with complex furniture settings.