Wall Climbing Robot System Research Articles

Exploration of using a wall-climbing robot system for indoor inspection in occupied buildings

Indoor inspection robots operating in occupied buildings need to minimize disturbance to occupants and access high areas of a room and cramped spaces obstructed by obstacles for higher inspection coverage. However, existing indoor inspection robots are still unable to meet these requirements. This paper aims to explore the feasibility of applying wall-climbing robots to address these requirements. To this end, we propose a small-sized wall-climbing robot prototype that can move on common indoor surfaces. We extend the proposed prototype to support thermographic inspection by integrating thermal imaging technology into it. Experiment results show that the proposed robot prototype can reach more wall and floor areas for inspection than previously developed indoor inspection robots. It has also been demonstrated that the reduced size and the wall-climbing ability allow the robot to largely avoid human activity areas, thereby reducing disturbance to occupants. This study represents the first attempt to introduce wall-climbing robots into the indoor inspection domain and provides the initial validation of their advantages over existing indoor inspection robots regarding improving inspection coverage and minimizing disturbance to occupants. The findings in this study can provide valuable insights for the future design, selection and application of robotic systems for indoor inspection tasks.

Wall-Climbing Robot System for Volume Calibration of Large Vertical Storage Tank

Wall-Climbing Robot System for Volume Calibration of Large Vertical Storage Tank

Optimization Design and Trajectory Error Compensation of a Facade-Adaptive Wall-Climbing Robot

In recent years, many wall-climbing robots have been developed in the field of petrochemical storage tank maintenance. However, it is difficult for most of them to be widely used due to common problems such as poor adsorption capacity, poor adaptation to elevation, and low trajectory tracking accuracy. In order to solve the problem of the robot not being able to achieve high-precision operation on curved surfaces, a new wall-climbing robot system is designed. Based on the magnetic wheel adsorption method, a passive adaptive motion mechanism that can adapt to walls with different curvatures is proposed. In order to improve the trajectory tracking accuracy of the wall-climbing robot, the kinematic model of the wall-climbing robot is simplified, a velocity compensation controller is designed, and the stability of the controller is proved by introducing the Lyapunov equation. Through experiments, the controller designed in this paper is compared with the conventional controller to verify the effectiveness and superiority of the controller. The experimental results show that the robot can move safely and stably on curved surfaces, with improved tracking accuracy and reduced trajectory deviation caused by response time lag, and meets the maintenance operation requirements of wall-climbing robots.

Design and Control of a Crawler-Type Wall-Climbing Robot System for Measuring Paint Film Thickness of Offshore Wind Turbine Tower

Design and Control of a Crawler-Type Wall-Climbing Robot System for Measuring Paint Film Thickness of Offshore Wind Turbine Tower

Analysis of the aerodynamic performance of a twin-propelled wall-climbing robot based on computational fluid dynamics method

We present a twin-propelled wall-climbing robot that can stably adsorb and move quickly on a vertical wall by exploiting the propeller’s reverse thrust as the adsorption force and the wheel as the movement method. This paper derives and theoretically analyses the aerodynamic characteristics of the twin-propelled wall-climbing mobile robot system exploiting the momentum inflow model and blade element theory and measures the reverse thrust of a single propeller through real-world experiments. Additionally, Computational Fluid Dynamics simulation software analyzes the influence of structural parameters, such as the lateral spacing of the twin-propeller fixed plate, the width of the fixed-rotor plate, and the inclination angle of the double-rotor on the airflow around the robot. Experiments on the adsorption and movement performance of the dual-rotor wall-climbing robot on a vertical wall demonstrate that the designed twin-propelled wall-climbing robot can stably adsorb and move on a vertical wall.

Optimization Design and Flexible Detection Method of a Surface Adaptation Wall-Climbing Robot with Multisensor Integration for Petrochemical Tanks.

Recently, numerous wall-climbing robots have been developed for petrochemical tank maintenance. However, most of them are difficult to be widely applied due to common problems such as poor adsorption capacity, low facade adaptability, and low detection accuracy. In order to realize automatic precise detection, an innovative wall-climbing robot system was designed. Based on magnetic circuit optimization, a passive adaptive moving mechanism that can adapt to the walls of different curvatures was proposed. In order to improve detection accuracy and efficiency, a flexible detection mechanism combining with a hooke hinge that can realize passive vertical alignment was designed to meet the detection requirements. Through the analysis of mechanical models under different working conditions, a hierarchical control system was established to complete the wall thickness and film thickness detection. The results showed that the robot could move safely and stably on the facade, as well as complete automatic precise detection.

Optimization Design and Flexible Detection Method of Wall-Climbing Robot System with Multiple Sensors Integration for Magnetic Particle Testing.

Weld detection is vital to the quality of ship construction and navigation safety, and numerous detection robots have been developed and widely applied. Focusing on the current bottleneck of robot safety, efficiency, and intelligent detection, this paper developed a wall-climbing robot that integrates multiple sensors and uses fluorescent magnetic powder for nondestructive testing. We designed a moving mechanism that can safely move on a curved surface and a serial-parallel hybrid flexible detection mechanism that incorporates a force sensor to solve the robot’s safe adsorption and a flexible detection of the curved surface to complete the flaw detection operation. We optimized the system structure and improved the overall performance of the robot by establishing a unified mechanical model for different operating conditions. Based on the collected sensor information, a multi-degree of freedom component collaborative flexible detection method with a standard detecting process was developed to complete efficient, high-quality detection. Results showed that the developed wall-climbing robot can move safely and steadily on the complex facade and can complete the flaw detection of wall welds.

A Three-row Opposed Gripping Mechanism with Bioinspired Spiny Toes for Wall-climbing Robots

This paper presents a study of a three-row opposed gripping mechanism made of bioinspired spiny toes. An insect Serica orientalis Motschulsky’s tarsal system was first described and studied. A compliant single spiny toe model was established assuming that the contact asperities were spheres. Following the single toe contact model, a spiny toe array’s contact model was then developed using asperity height’s distribution function. By studying the engaging and disengaging process of the single toe, the mechanical behavior of the toe and toe array were addressed. The toes as well as the arrays were manufactured via rapid prototyping. A customized apparatus using displacement-control method has been carried out to measure the pull-in forces and pull-off positions of the single toe and toe array under various compression conditions. Based on the understanding, a three-row opposed gripping mechanism with radial configuration for wall-climbing robots was designed and fabricated according to the mechanical behaviors of the toe and array. Using an opposed spoke configuration with 3 rows of 31 toes on each linkage array, the mechanism designed as a foot of climbing robots can vertically resist at least 1 kg of load on rough inverted surface, while the maximum normal load is as high as 31 N. The findings may provide a way in developing a high payload wall-climbing robot system for practical applications.

Research on a Biped-wheel Wall-climbing Robot System

This paper introduce a biped-wheeled wall-climbing robot system for terrorism investigation. This system includes the bipedwheel robot mechanics, PDA remote control module, and wireless video transmission module. The robot mechanical configuration and structural characteristics are introduced. The robot has three work modes: moving straight, turning in plane and traversing cross-wall. Experiments show that the robot has rapid moving speed, excellent manoeuvrability and strong ability of traversing cross-wall.

Design and experimental verification of an intelligent wall-climbing welding robot system

Purpose – This paper aims to present a new intelligent wall-climbing welding robot system for large-scale steel structure manufacture, which is composed of robot body, control system and welding system. Design/methodology/approach – The authors design the robot system according to application requirements, validate the design through simulation and experiments and use the robot in actual production. Findings – Experimental results show that the robot system satisfies the demands of automatic welding of large-scale ferromagnetic structure, which contributes much to on-site manufacturing of such structures. Practical implications – The robot can work with better quality and efficiency compared with manual welding and other semi-automatic welding devices, which can much improve large-scale steel structure manufacturing. Originality/value – The robot system is a novel solution for large-scale steel structures welding. There are three major advantages: the robot body with reliable adsorption ability, large payload capability and good mobility which meet the requirements of welding; the control system with good welding seam tracking accuracy and intelligent automatic welding ability; and friendly human – computer interface which makes the robot easy to use.

Development of Wall Climbing Robot System by Using Impeller Type Adhesion Mechanism

In this paper, we present a wall climbing robot system, called "LARVA", developed for visual inspection of structures with flat surfaces. The robot has two differential driving wheels with a suspension and an adhesion mechanism. The adhesion mechanism is composed of an impeller and two---layered suction seals. It is designed to provide sufficient adhesion force and be controlled so that the robot can move freely on various wall surfaces. The static and aerodynamic modeling of the adhesion mechanism is given and the analysis of the adhesion mechanism, air leakage, and inner flow are carried out to be useful for the design as well as the control. Finally, the performances of the robot are experimentally verified on several kinds of walls and its feasibility is validated.

群型壁面移動ロボットＡｎｃｈｏｒ Ｃｌｉｍｂｅｒの提案と吸着移動ユニットの開発

High mobility and large payload capacity are important abilities for wall climbing robots. Though conventional designs have achieved only either of these two abilities at the same time, a novel swarm type wall climbing robot system “Anchor Climber” that can achieve both of them is proposed in this paper. This robot system is composed of two or more child units and a parent unit, and wall climbing robots “Adhering Mobile Units” (AM Units) are used as these child units. AM Units can shift two adhering states for moving and for sticking on walls. Three concept models of AM Units using the technique of internally-balanced magnet (IB Magnet) were proposed, and two prototypes with omni-wheels and crawlers were developed. Several experiments were made with developed prototype robots, and suitable configuration and mechanisms of AM Unit were discussed from results of these experiments.