Modular Robotics

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Overview

Modular robotics studies how robots made from interchangeable parts can change shape, share capabilities, or assemble into systems suited to different tasks. Approaches include mechanical docking and self-assembly, optimization and motion planning, decentralized or graph-based control, and learning methods that transfer across configurations. Researchers apply these ideas to manipulation, locomotion, aerial and underwater robots, construction, field operations, and human-robot interaction. A central challenge is making reconfiguration reliable at scale while ensuring that modules remain mechanically, computationally, and behaviorally compatible after they are combined.

Latest papers

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46 papers7 papers in the last four weeks, level with the four weeks before. 0.0% of all new papers.

  1. From Biological Curves to Soft Modular Robots: Learning-Based Inverse Design with Uncertainty-Guided Refinement

    Oct 27, 2026Dixiang Wang, Minghao Zha, Arifur Rahman +6Soft RoboticsModular Robotics

  2. Robotic Budding: From Homogeneous Cells to Diverse Morphologies in Physical Self-Reproduction

    Oct 22, 2026Siyuan Zhang, Junyan Liu, Wanglin He +1RoboticsModular Robotics

    Department of Mechanical Engineering, Columbia University, New York, NY 10027, USA.

  3. Design and Characterization of a Unified Continuum Robot Actuation Platform

    Oct 14, 2026Yunti Xu, Aedan Mangan, Miheer Potdar +2Modular RoboticsContinuum Robot Design

    Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, University of California, San Diego, CA, 92093, USA.

  4. Lego-Like Stiffness Configuration of Planar Compliant Modules for Task-Specific Flexible Interfaces

    Oct 5, 2026Siyue Yao, Xiaochi Xie, Shixuan Zhao +4Mechanism DesignModular Robotics

    State Key Laboratory of Mechanical Systems and Vibration, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200240, China · Department of Mechanical Engineering, Stanford University, USA · Shanghai Key Laboratory of Intelligent Robotics; META Robotics Institute, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200240, China +1

  5. ALFRED: Requirement-driven development of an open-source mobile manipulator for long-term plant monitoring

    Oct 1, 2026Ciarán Miceal Johnson, Christopher Quail, Garry Ellard +3Modular RoboticsMobile Robotics

  6. Recompositional Robotics: Cross-Domain, Open-set, and Lifelong Modularity Beyond Morphology

    Sep 29, 2026Steven Swanbeck, Jonathan Salfity, Corrie Van Sice +2Modular RoboticsRobotics

    Texas Robotics and the Walker Department of Mechanical Engineering, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX 78712, USA

  7. Executor-aware Candidate Selection via a Feasibility Certificate

    Sep 29, 2026Sooin Choi, Soonwoong Hwang, Wansoo KimConstrained Motion PlanningModular Robotics

    Department of Robotics, Hanyang University, Seoul, Republic of Korea · Department of Robotics, Hanyang University ERICA, Ansan, Republic of Korea

  8. Robot-Assisted Deployment and Maintenance of Inflatable Modules for Lunar Habitation: A Field Demonstration

    Sep 28, 2026Kentaro Uno, Shamistan Karimov, Ashutosh Mishra +5Robotic ConstructionModular Robotics

    Space Robotics Lab. (SRL) in Department of Aerospace Engineering, Graduate School of Engineering, Tohoku University, Sendai 980-8579, Japan · Department of Electrical Engineering, Graduate School of Science and Technology, Tokyo University of Science, Noda 278-8510, Japan

  9. Fly, Drive, Reconfigure: A Modular Reconfigurable Aerial-Ground Platform for Field Operations

    Sep 24, 2026Li-Yu Lo, Yanbaihui Liu, Chengchuan Shu +3Modular RoboticsMulti-Robot Systems

    Duke University

  10. A Modular Dual-Arm Robotic Cell for Disassembly and Repair of Industrial Control Electronics

    Sep 23, 2026Maximilian Ruhe, Fabian Harlacher, Christian Friedrich +1Industrial RoboticsRobotic Manipulation

    Karlsruhe University of Applied Sciences, Karlsruhe, Germany

  11. Marginal Calibration Does Not Compose: Hidden Dependence in Modular Robot Navigation

    Sep 20, 2026Rista BaralModular RoboticsRobot State Estimation

    University of Delaware

  12. MarineCraft: Enabling Rapid Prototyping of Underwater Robots via Modular Construction

    Sep 18, 2026Yuta SugiuraRoboticsUnderwater Robotics

    Department of Information and Computer Science, Keio University, Yokohama, Japan

  13. Tendon-Driven Continuum Robot with Modular Stiffness and In-Situ Self Pose Estimation

    Sep 14, 2026Guo Ning Sue, Zheng Cao, Junzhe Hu +5Modular RoboticsRobotics

    Carnegie Mellon University

  14. QLAUN: A Research-Oriented, Robust, Agile, Modular, and Affordable Torque-Controlled Quadruped Robot

    Sep 3, 2026Mohamad S. Moudallal, Noel J. MaaloufLegged RoboticsModular Robotics

    Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Lebanese American University, Byblos, Lebanon

  15. One Print, Many Moves: Monolithic Origami-inspired Folding Actuator for Composable Soft Multi-DoF Systems

    Sep 1, 2026Jaehyung Jang, Zhenish Zhakypov, Jasmin Elena Palmer +3Modular RoboticsRobotics

    IRiS Lab, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, Daejeon, Korea. · CHARM Lab, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA.

  16. Module Number Adaptive Visual Shape Control for Serial Modular Soft Robots

    Aug 30, 2026Kyohei Akamine, Takato Horii, Yusuke Sakaue +1Soft RoboticsVision-Based Robot Control

    Graduate School of Engineering Science, The University of Osaka, Osaka 560-0043, Japan · Faculty of Science and Technology, Sophia University, 7-1 Kioi-cho, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 102-8554, Japan

  17. Tensegrity Continuum Robots Enable Task-Adaptive Morphologies for Cooperative Behaviors

    Aug 27, 2026Mahmud Hasan Saikot, Sydney Spiegel, Sudheera Akalanka Kariyawasam +3Tensegrity RoboticsRobotics

    Adaptive Robotics Lab, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO, USA

  18. GOLEM: Modular Humanoid Autonomy Towards Electric Vehicle Battery Disassembly

    Aug 21, 2026Max Conway, William Xie, Allen Devaraj +14Modular RoboticsHumanoid Robot Control

    Department of Computer Science, University of Colorado Boulder, USA. · Department of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering, University of Notre Dame, USA.

  19. Reconfiguration-Complete Motion Primitives with Constructive Planning for Deformable Planar Modular Robots

    Aug 18, 2026Jie Gu, Tingting Wang, Hongrun Gao +4Modular RoboticsRobot Motion Planning

    Institute of AI and Robotics, Academy for Engineering & Technology, Fudan University, Shanghai 200433, China · Department of Mechanical Engineering, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hung Hom, Hong Kong SAR, China

  20. Detachable Wire Drive : Reconfigurable Robot Architecture with Shared Actuators

    Aug 16, 2026Takahiro Hattori, Kento Kawaharazuka, Kei OkadaRoboticsModular Robotics

    Department of Mechano-Informatics, Graduate School of Information Science and Technology, The University of Tokyo, 7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo, 113-8656, Japan · AI Center, Graduate School of Information Science and Technology, The University of Tokyo, Japan

  21. Communication in modular robotic motor control: Bilateral controllers under realistic constraints

    Aug 14, 2026Jingwen Li, Levin Kuhlmann, Jason Friedman +1Robotic ControlRobotics

    Department of Data Science and AI, Monash University · Department of Physical Therapy & Sagol School of Neuroscience, Tel Aviv University · Cerenaut

  22. Deployment Is Not Destiny: Robot Recomposition in the Field with Unseen Software, Hardware, and Compute Payloads

    Aug 11, 2026Steven Swanbeck, Jonathan Salfity, Jeffery Gunawan +3Modular RoboticsRobotics

    Texas Robotics and the Walker Department of Mechanical Engineering, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX 78712, USA

  23. Reconfigurable Structural Robotic Assembly: Interlocking 3D Aggregations with Self-Aligning Compound Nested Lattice Modules

    Aug 4, 2026Alexander Htet Kyaw, Miana Smith, Paul Richard +1Robotic ConstructionModular Robotics

    Massachusetts Instittue of Technology (MIT) · École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL)

  24. Contact-Driven Localization in a Freeform Robotic Self-Assembled Structure

    Aug 3, 2026Mohammadali Rashidioun, Michael Sosa, Petras SwisslerModular RoboticsSwarm Robotics

    Institute of Technology · Industrial and Mechanical Engineering Department, New Jersey Institute of Technology

  25. Stress-Sharing: A Bio-Inspired Approach to Decentralized Fault Repair in Modular Spacecraft

    Jul 15, 2026Sidhdharth D. Sikka, Yue Shen, Shaoshuai MouModular RoboticsRobotics

    Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, USA · Manifold Research Group

  26. Programmable Synchronization Graphs for Adaptive and Fault-Tolerant Modular Miniature Robots

    Jul 8, 2026Okan Kulekcioglu, Arqam Bin Ahmad, Ines Garcia +3Dynamical SystemsModular Robotics

    Department of Mechanical Engineering, Bilkent University; Ankara, Türkiye. · International Iberian Nanotechnology Laboratory (INL); Braga, Portugal.

  27. PenduMorph: Development and Motion Analysis of Pendulum-Actuated Rolling Reconfigurable Spherical Robot with Magnetic-Coupling

    Jun 21, 2026Aung Myat, Peter Noyce, May Forgan +2Modular RoboticsRobotics

    Geometric Mechanics and Mechatronics in Robotics (gm2R) Lab, the School of Engineering, Cardiff University, Cardiff, CF24 3AA, United Kingdom

  28. Tessellated Biomes: Distributed Robotic Assemblies for Architectural Resilience

    Jun 7, 2026Sergio Mutis, Eric Hughes, Gert DuvenhageCyber-Physical SystemsRobotic Construction

    MIT · UCL

  29. Quantifying Full-Body Immersion

    May 21, 2026Alihan Bakir, Ekrem Yüksel, Fabio Zuliani +3Modular RoboticsVirtual Reality

    Reconfigurable Robotics Lab, EPFL, MED 1 2313 Building MED Station 9, Lausanne, 1015, Vaud, Switzerland.

  30. Self-assembling Modular Aerial Robot for Versatile Aerial Tasks

    May 19, 2026Junichiro Sugihara, Masaki Kitagawa, Jinjie Li +4Aerial RoboticsModular Robotics

    Department of Mechanical Engineering, The University of Tokyo,Tokyo, Japan. · Department of Mechano Informatics, The University of Tokyo,Tokyo, Japan.