Guest editorial on reconfigurable and deployable mechanisms

Abstract

With the development of science and technology and with a particular emphasis on the progress of deep space and undersea exploration, traditional mechanisms with limited adaptability and flexibility are facing challenges. Reconfigurable and deployable mechanical systems being capable of adapting themselves to variable tasks have been attracting great attentions in both academia and industry. Especially in space applications, the deployable antenna and the solar array are widely used as deployable mechanisms. With the increasing requirements upon transformation, dexterity, modularization, reconfigurability, and reliability, related theory and technology of reconfigurable and deployable mechanisms will be continuously enriched, driving the scientists to put more initiative and enthusiasm into this field. In this special issue, 4 articles out of 16 submissions are finally accepted. In the article titled ‘‘Application of gene structure and mitosis concepts to the study and design of folding mechanisms,’’ a novel approach based on a consideration of gene structure, mitosis, and cell fusion was proposed to the study and design of metamorphic mechanisms. Work in the article titled ‘‘The automatic drilling system of 6R-2P mining drill jumbo’’ mainly focuses on a mining drill jumbo which is a redundant serial robotic manipulator with 8 degrees of freedom, six revolute joints, and two prismatic joints. In the article titled ‘‘On a Jansen leg with multiple gait patterns for reconfigurable walking platforms,’’ a novel reconfigurable Theo Jansen linkage that can produce a wide variety of gait cycles was present. In the article titled ‘‘Modeling on thermally induced coupled micromotions of satellite with complex flexible appendages,’’ the authors investigated the deployable mechanism for the satellite application. All of these works are interesting, reflecting the state of the art under developing in this area. The reconfigurable and deployable mechanisms will provide many innovative ways to meet the future tasks. For example, a reconfigurable rover can display a high degree of mobility, versatility, and robustness to adapt to irregular terrain in planetary exploration; modular manipulators, composed of a set of modular links and joints with various sizes, can be assembled into appropriate configurations for various given tasks. We believe that there are still plenty spaces for research and development of the reconfigurable and deployable mechanisms. Jinguo Liu, Xilun Ding, Yan Jin, Ketao Zhang and Guangbo Hao State Key Laboratory of Robotics, Shenyang Institute of Automation, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenyang, China Robotics Institute, Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Beijing, China School of Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering, Queen’s University Belfast, Belfast, UK Centre for Robotics Research, King’s College London, Strand, UK School of Engineering, University College Cork, Cork, Ireland