{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,4,14]],"date-time":"2026-04-14T04:17:58Z","timestamp":1776140278135,"version":"3.50.1"},"reference-count":20,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"4","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2017,10,10]],"date-time":"2017-10-10T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1507593600000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100001809","name":"National Natural Science Foundation of China","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["51375166"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["51375166"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100001809","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100000038","name":"Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100000038","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Robotics"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Existing self-reconfigurable robots achieve connections and disconnections by a separate drive of the docking system. In this paper, we present a new docking system with which the connections and disconnections are driven by locomotion actuators, without the need for a separate drive, which reduces the weight and the complexity of the modules. This self-reconfigurable robot consists of two types of fundamental modules, i.e., active and passive modules. By the docking system, two types of connections are formed with the fundamental modules, and the docking and undocking actions are achieved through simple control with less sensory feedback. This paper describes the design of the robotic modules, the docking system, the docking process, and the docking force analysis. An experiment is performed to demonstrate the self-reconfigurable robot with the docking system.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/robotics6040025","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2017,10,10]],"date-time":"2017-10-10T10:34:29Z","timestamp":1507631669000},"page":"25","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":7,"title":["A Novel Docking System for Modular Self-Reconfigurable Robots"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"6","author":[{"given":"Tan","family":"Zhang","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Division of Biomedical Engineering, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, SK S7N 5A9, Canada"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Wenjun","family":"Zhang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Mechatronics and Automation, Shanghai University, Shanghai 200444, China"},{"name":"Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, SK S7N 5A9, Canada"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Madan","family":"Gupta","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, SK S7N 5A9, Canada"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2017,10,10]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"43","DOI":"10.1109\/MRA.2007.339623","article-title":"Modular self-reconfigurable robot systems\u2014Challenges and opportunities for the future","volume":"14","author":"Yim","year":"2007","journal-title":"IEEE Robot. 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