Concurrent optimal design of modular robotic configuration

This paper presents a new optimization design methodology that is applicabl e to modular systems. This new methodology is called concurrent optimizatio n design method (CODM). A modular robot is taken as a case study. The CODM is superior to the existing methods for modular robot configuration design in the sense that traditional type synthesis and dimensional synthesis now can be treated once. This mathematically implies that (i) variables are def ined for both types and dimensions, and (ii) all the variables are defined in one optimization problem formulation. This paper illustrates that, in fa ct, optimization design for modular architectures necessitates a multiobjec tive optimization problem. A genetic algorithm is used to solve for this co mplex optimization model which contains both discrete and continuous variab les. (C) 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.