@Article{	  castano2000conro:-towards-deployable-robots,
  abstract	= {Metamorphic robots are modular robots that can reconfigure
		  their shape. Such capability is desirable in tasks such as
		  earthquake search and rescue and battlefield surveillance
		  and scouting, where robots must go through unexpected
		  situations and obstacles and perform tasks that are
		  difficult for fixed-shape robots. The capabilities of the
		  robots are determined by the design specification of their
		  modules. In this paper, we present the design specification
		  of a CONRO module, a small, self-sufficient and relatively
		  homogeneous module that can be connected to other modules
		  to form complex robots. These robots have not only the
		  capability of changing their shape (intra-robot
		  metamorphing) but also can split into smaller robots or
		  merge with other robots to create a single larger robot
		  (inter-robot metamorphing), i.e., CONRO robots can alter
		  their shape and their size. Thus, heterogeneous robot teams
		  can be built with homogeneous components. Furthermore, the
		  CONRO robots can separate the reconfiguration stage from
		  the locomotion stage, allowing the selection of
		  configuration-dependent gaits. The locomotion and automatic
		  inter-module docking capabilities of such robots were
		  tested using tethered prototypes that can be reconfigured
		  manually. We conclude the paper discussing the future work
		  needed to fully realize the construction of these robots.},
  author	= {Andres Castano and Wei-Min Shen and Peter Will},
  journal	= {Autonomous Robots},
  month		= jun,
  number	= {3},
  pages		= {309--324},
  title		= {{CONRO}: Towards Deployable Robots with Inter-Robots
		  Metamorphic Capabilities},
  volume	= {8},
  year		= {2000}
}