Design and Motion Analysis of a Magnetic Climbing Robot Applied to Ship Shell Plate

Abstract

The manufacture, maintenance and inspection of a ship involve a series of works on the ship shell plate, which were always seen as harmful for human operators and time-consuming work. The shipping industry is looking to replace manual work with automation equipment. A magnetic climbing robot that can omnidirectionally move on ship shell plate was presented in this paper. This article summarized the mechanical structure, control system, kinematic model, and autonomy of robot. The mechanical structure of the robot was inspired by bionics and adopted a wheel-leg hybrid locomotion system. In the control system of this robot, industrial control computer (IPC) was adopted as the core controller and brushless direct current servomotor was chosen as the actuating station. Finally, the motion analysis of the designed robot was performed. The results of the analysis show that the magnetic climbing robot adapted to the ship curved shell plate and crossed obstacles.