Scikit-Robot: An Integrated Framework for Solving Structural Challenges in Dynamic Modeling for Reconfigurable Robotics

Modular reconfigurable robots offer a high degree of flexibility through dynamic hardware morphology changes, but their potential has been constrained by software limitations, particularly the static design philosophy of URDF, the de facto standard format. This paper identifies three fundamental research gaps that hinder the development of reconfigurable robots: (1) the disconnect between programmatic “decompo- sition” of models and runtime “composition,” (2) the lack of standard mechanisms for updating kinematic topology at runtime, and (3) the limited semantic expressiveness of the URDF format itself. To address these challenges, we propose scikit-robot, a unified framework that integrates multiple com- ponents for reconfigurable robotics. The framework establishes a design-to-deployment workflow through: (1) an integrated URDF toolchain handling decomposition, reconfiguration, and mesh optimization, (2) a dynamic root transformation algorithm enabling flexible physical connections, and (3) a comprehensive hash-based model management system providing asset identity verification and supporting simulation-to-hardware integration. Experimental validation on multiple real modular robot systems demonstrates stable operation and direct model transfer from simulation to physical hardware, confirming the effectiveness of our integrated workflow approach. scikit-robot provides researchers and developers with a practical foundation for dynamic and adaptive robotic systems.