Autonomous Climbing Research Articles

Autonomous climbing: An effective exercise mode with beneficial outcomes of aerobic exercise and resistance training

AimsTo assess the effects of three specific exercise training modes, aerobic exercise (A), resistance training (R) and autonomous climbing (AC), aimed at proposing a cross-training method, on improving the physical, molecular and metabolic characteristics of mice without many side effects. Materials and methodsSeven-week-old male mice were randomly divided into four groups: control (C), aerobic exercise (A), resistance training (R), and autonomous climbing (AC) groups. Physical changes in mice were tracked and analysed to explore the similarities and differences of these three exercise modes. Histochemistry, quantitative real-time PCR (RT-PCR), western blot (WB) and metabolomics analysis were performed to identify the underlying relationships among the three training modes. Key findingsMice in the AC group showed better body weight control, glucose and energy homeostasis. Molecular markers of myogenesis, hypertrophy, antidegradation and mitochondrial function were highly expressed in the muscle of mice after autonomous climbing. The serum metabolomics landscape and enriched pathway comparison indicated that the aerobic oxidation pathway (pentose phosphate pathway, galactose metabolism and fatty acid degradation) and amino acid metabolism pathway (tyrosine, arginine and proline metabolism) were significantly enriched in group AC, suggesting an increased muscle mitochondrial function and protein balance ability of mice after autonomous climbing. SignificanceWe propose a new exercise mode, autonomous climbing, as a convenient but effective training method that combines the beneficial effects of aerobic exercise and resistance training.

Autonomous Climbing Robot for Tank Inspection

A detailed design of mechanisms is presented, along with the required electromagnetic system to attach the robot to the tank’s wall. This is a novel mechanical design in which the robotic wheels rotate changing the instantaneous center of rotation. The robot mechanics is designed and simulated using Solidworks. The proposed electromagnetic system has to provide the necessary currents to control magnetic forces to be strong enough to attach the robot to the wall. However, because of the electromagnetic forces the control positioning method has to consider the strong Coulomb friction that appears against wheels movement. The sensor and acquisition system for navigation and control are also detailed. An inspection system has been proposed based on client/server architecture. Autonomous tracking and a mapping system powered by IMU sensor fusion is proposed. This design is suitable to be used along with the robot motion positioning strategy and, especially, the system must be robust to the disturbances and noise.The robot runs a server application and a remote PC is the client. The robot configuration has been developed with the capability of climbing up steel walls and navigating welding lines. The remote inspection system has been illustrated. A sensorial system and data fusion strategy to estimate the absolute robot position have been proposed. In order to track the desired trajectories, the robot’s kinematics is described. Some simulations of the position control of the wheels and the complete control for the tracking performance were simulated using Matlab/Simulink. This robotic system has demonstrated the capability to track an accurate trajectory given by the defined kinematic equations.

Mechanical Design and Dynamcis of an Autonomous Climbing Robot for Elliptic Half-shell Cleaning

This paper presents an auto-climbing robot for cleaning the elliptic half-shell of National Grand Theatre in China. The robot consists of a climbing mechanism, a moving mechanism, two cleaning brushes and supporting mechanisms. The mechanism and unique aspects are presented in detail. A distributed control system based on CAN bus is designed to meet the requirements of controlling the robot. After that the emphasis for discussion is on the motion realization which includes climbing and cleaning movements. The robot independently climbs and descends in the vertical direction and cleans in the horizontal direction. It takes the circling tracks as supports for climbing up and down between strips and moving horizontally along one strip around the ellipsoid. For system design and control purposes, the dynamic models of the climbing and cleaning processes are given applying of the Lagrange equation. Furthermore the force distribution of the front and rear supporting mechanisms is computed in a way that ensures the safety of the climbing process. In the end, the successful on-site tests confirm the principles described above and the robot's ability.

形状可変クローラの履帯張力調整機構を用いた階段自律移動(特殊移動ロボット1)

形状可変クローラの履帯張力調整機構を用いた階段自律移動(特殊移動ロボット1)