Abstract
The paper presents a wall-climbing robot featuring self-compliance for variable curvature façades. The high payload and maneuverability make it highly potential in heavy-duty operation of industrial applications. The robot consists of two traction modules and one link module. Each traction module is equipped with magnetic adhesion and crawler traction submodules. The two traction modules are connected by the link module with 4 degrees of freedom (DoF) of passive compliance. Variable curvature façade self-compliance is achieved by the passive compliant link module, which results in the attitude change decoupling of the two traction modules. The attitude can be adjusted under the effect of magnetic adhesion force to comply with the curvature variations. High payloads are achieved by the large contact area between the crawler and the surface. Omni-directional high maneuverability is enabled by the speed difference between the motors of two traction modules. The robot can maneuver in any direction on the surface with a minimum radius of 1 m and carry 36 kg payload on vertical surfaces.
Highlights
In the past two decades, wall-climbing robots were developed for the inspection and maintenance of oil tanks, wind turbines, and marine vessels, such as inspection for paint corrosion, welding defects and cleaning, derusting, and painting of facade structures
The main objective of this study is to develop a new climbing robot platform with high payload without complex control
Each traction module can follow the changes in curvature and fluctuations on the surface depending on the 2 degrees of freedom (DoF) of the connecting module
Summary
In the past two decades, wall-climbing robots were developed for the inspection and maintenance of oil tanks, wind turbines, and marine vessels, such as inspection for paint corrosion, welding defects and cleaning, derusting, and painting of facade structures. The robot should possess capabilities for climbing variable curvature surface and overcoming obstacles to improve its operation ability for inspection and maintenance. The series of “Omni-Climbers,” developed by Mahmoud Tavakoli[9] and [10], is a successful implementation of an inspection robot for ferromagnetic structures This robot uses flexible chassis for a better adaptability to the curvature without actuation or using omni-directional wheels for its good maneuverability. The magnetic climbing robots with the foot and wheel-type have capabilities for climbing variable curvature surface and overcoming obstacles. Combined with the payload and motion process of the wall-climbing robot, the wall-climbing mechanism based on permanent magnet adhesion and track-type meets the requirements of some heavy-duty operations on complex curved surfaces.
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