Abstract: The mobile robot based on the traditional mechanism is difficult to travel quickly in complex terrain because of the relatively fixed motion relationship and the single configuration. As a new type of mechanism, metamorphic mechanism has the ability of merging and seperating some components merge and separate instantaneously, change the number of effective components or the degree of freedom of the mechanism, and has strong adaptability to the environment. The mobile intergrating will further improve the speed, flexibility and stability in complex environment. We review the motion principle, driving mode and spatial configuration of metamorphic mechanism and its mobile robot configuration design are reviewed, summarize the key problems and technological progress of mobile robots based on metamorphic mechanism, and prospect the development direction for the future, which provide important references for the development of metamorphic mobile robots.