Wall Climbing Research Articles

Improvement of stability of Small Humanoid Wall Climbing Robot

Improvement of stability of Small Humanoid Wall Climbing Robot

Modeling and Experimental Analysis of Suction Pressure Generated by Active Suction Chamber Based Wall Climbing Robot with a Novel Bottom Restrictor

The large numbers of research are carried out in the field of wall climbing robots. These wall-climbing robots are utilized for variety of applications including hazardous operations. The wall-climbing robots must be capable of manoeuvring in different wall surfaces without sacrificing its mobility. For such capabilities, wall-climbing robots should be enabled with proper adhesion mechanism such as suction based absorption technology. In this paper, the modeling and experimental analysis of suction pressure generated inside the suction chamber with different suction chamber contours is analyzed. In this study, a novel bottom restrictor is included at the bottom of the designed suction chamber. The suction motor, suction chamber with different contours and bottom restrictor is modelled using 3D Solidworks software and performance analysis were done using FLU-EFD computational fluid dynamics (CFD) package. The impact on the adhesion efficiency of the climbing robot with the designed bottom restrictor is experimentally evaluated and tested on non-plastered brick walls.

Experimental and Numerical Optimization of Magnetic Adhesion Force for Wall Climbing Robot Applications

Wall climbing robots require adhesion methods which are suited to the climbing surface material and roughness. In this paper, an optimum design of a magnetic adhesion mechanism has been developed for ferrous surfaces that maximises the magnetic adhesion force. This in turn maximises the payload that can be carried by the climbing robot. Experiments have been designed using the Response Surface Methodology (RSM) to study the effect of identified independent parameters (namely the distance between magnets, air gap and yoke thickness) that affect the response variable i.e. the magnetic adhesion force. A quadratic regression model has been developed to represent an empirical relationship between the response variable and the independent variables. Statistical analysis of the predicted model has been investigated using analysis of variance (ANOVA). To inspect the adequacy of the predicted quadratic model, validating experiments have been carried out at different conditions where the experimental results showed similar response values to the predicted model responses. Numerical optimisation has been applied to predict the optimum variable conditions for maximum adhesion force and air gap, resulting in an adhesion force of 240.3 N at 20 mm distance between magnets, 18.5 mm air gap and 8.3 mm yoke thickness. The optimum conditions have been numerically validated using a commercial finite element simulator. The numerically optimised design parameters have been used to design and construct a prototype wall climbing robot.

Modeling and Simulation of a Wall Climbing Robot Considering Slip Motions

Modeling and Simulation of a Wall Climbing Robot Considering Slip Motions

吸盤式吸着壁面移動機構の開発

吸盤式吸着壁面移動機構の開発

Study of Wall Climbing Robot Having Proposition of Stable Mechanism on the Inclined Plane Based on Magnetic Force

Study of Wall Climbing Robot Having Proposition of Stable Mechanism on the Inclined Plane Based on Magnetic Force

Development and Analysis of Robotic Sliding Suction Cup System for Wall Climbing Applications

Background/Objectives:The wall climbing robots normally uses suction cups for adhering to the wall surface. The conventional suction cup system using common suction generator suffers from the failure of centralized suction motor. The practically realized climbing robots with on board suction generator are limited with single suction chamber due to load and power limitations. Methods/Statistical analysis: In the proposed work, the climbing robot is realized with two on board suction motors to cater two chambers. Each suction motor is integrated with a suction cup with suitable skirting. A drive system with flat rubber wheels enables the robot to move on smooth surfaces. The design concept of dual suction cup enables safe mobility through adaptive control and ensures the robot functions even any one suction generator fails or encounters higher leakage. This arrangement provides the required negative pressure for cup individually to adhere to the wall. An adaptive control scheme is developed and implemented by interactively controlling the suction cups negative pressure by varying the speed of the corresponding suction motor. This paper also discusses about its basic mathematical analysis, the simulation of the model and the prototype wall climbing robot. Findings: The simulation of the robot is performed using Matlab Simulink Software and also realized with hardware components using an embedded controller, pressure sensors and drive motors. It is observed through simulation that by varying the speed of the suction motor, the negative pressure in the suction cup system can be controlled. The simulation result for the complete holding of the suction cup system considering the frictional forces is found to be -70.25 kPa. The sliding and drop off negative pressure levels by allowing a minimum suction leakage percentage is found by performing simulation. These pressure level values are compared with the experimental suction cup system and found to be closer. Application/ Improvements: The developed climbing robot can be deployed for various inspection tasks of concrete walls, high rise buildings, steel structures etc., The payload capacity of the robot can be still improved by optimizing the pressure levels in the chambers.

A Survey of Wall Climbing Robots: Recent Advances and Challenges

In recent decades, skyscrapers, as represented by the Burj Khalifa in Dubai and Shanghai Tower in Shanghai, have been built due to the improvements of construction technologies. Even in such newfangled skyscrapers, the façades are generally cleaned by humans. Wall climbing robots, which are capable of climbing up vertical surfaces, ceilings and roofs, are expected to replace the manual workforce in façade cleaning works, which is both hazardous and laborious work. Such tasks require these robotic platforms to possess high levels of adaptability and flexibility. This paper presents a detailed review of wall climbing robots categorizing them into six distinct classes based on the adhesive mechanism that they use. This paper concludes by expanding beyond adhesive mechanisms by discussing a set of desirable design attributes of an ideal glass façade cleaning robot towards facilitating targeted future research with clear technical goals and well-defined design trade-off boundaries.

Development of a Wall Climbing Robotic Ground Penetrating Radar System for Inspection of Vertical Concrete Structures

Development of a Wall Climbing Robotic Ground Penetrating Radar System for Inspection of Vertical Concrete Structures

A Cost Effective and Light Weight Unipolar Electroadhesion Pad Technology for Adhesion Mechanism of Wall Climbing Robot

Electroadhesion technique being employed in variety of fields of science and technology is considered as a clamping technique for wall climbing robots. The focus of this research is to present a cost effective and light weight unipolar electroadhesion pad technology for wall climbing robots (WCR) capable of lifting a reasonable weight vertically. The literature demonstrates that most of the research related electroadhesion has been performed on bipolar electrode pads. The research presented in this paper indicates that unipolar electroadhesion pad showed favourable attachment on melamine and wood substrates giving encouragement for the realisation of unipolar WCR. Design considerations along with the attachment of anti-peeling tail are also considered for the realization of WCR. The controlling mechanism for unipolar wall climbing robot was not complex. In conculsion, unipolar electroadhesion pad of copper and aluminium is a feasible technique to develop a cost effective and light weight unipolar wall climbing robot.

壁面移動ロボットの床面走行試験

壁面移動ロボットの床面走行試験

A Cross Structured Light Sensor and Stripe Segmentation Method for Visual Tracking of a Wall Climbing Robot.

In non-destructive testing (NDT) of metal welds, weld line tracking is usually performed outdoors, where the structured light sources are always disturbed by various noises, such as sunlight, shadows, and reflections from the weld line surface. In this paper, we design a cross structured light (CSL) to detect the weld line and propose a robust laser stripe segmentation algorithm to overcome the noises in structured light images. An adaptive monochromatic space is applied to preprocess the image with ambient noises. In the monochromatic image, the laser stripe obtained is recovered as a multichannel signal by minimum entropy deconvolution. Lastly, the stripe centre points are extracted from the image. In experiments, the CSL sensor and the proposed algorithm are applied to guide a wall climbing robot inspecting the weld line of a wind power tower. The experimental results show that the CSL sensor can capture the 3D information of the welds with high accuracy, and the proposed algorithm contributes to the weld line inspection and the robot navigation.

Finite Element Analysis based Optimization of Magnetic Adhesion Module for Concrete Wall Climbing Robot

Wall climbing robot can provide easier accessibility to tall structures for Non Destructive Testing (NDT) and improve working environments of human operators. However, existing adhesion mechanism for climbing robots such as vortex, electromagnet etc. are still at development stage and offer no feasible adhesion mechanism. As a result, few practical products have been developed for reinforced concrete surfaces, though wall-climbing robots have been researched for many years. This paper proposes a novel magnetic adhesion mechanism for wall-climbing robot for reinforced concrete surface. Mechanical design parameters such as distance between magnets, the yoke thickness, and magnet arrangements have been investigated by Finite Element Analysis (FEA). The adhesion module can be attached under the chassis of a prototype robot. The magnetic flux can penetrate maximum concrete cover of 30 mm and attain adhesion force of 121.26 N. The prototype provides high Force-to-Weight ratio compared to other reported permanent magnet based robotic systems. Both experiment and simulation results prove that the magnetic adhesion mechanism can generate efficient adhesion force for the climbing robot to operate on vertical reinforced concrete structures.

永久磁石による磁気吸着機構を用いた進行波型全方向壁面移動ロボットの開発

永久磁石による磁気吸着機構を用いた進行波型全方向壁面移動ロボットの開発

Model Construction and Optimization of Wall Climbing Robot Oriented Electro-adhesion Array

Model Construction and Optimization of Wall Climbing Robot Oriented Electro-adhesion Array

Research on Negative Pressure Wall Climbing Absorption System Based on SMA

This paper presents a negative pressure absorption system of climbing robots. Based on the utilization rate of the negative pressure climbing robot, the impacts of locomotion system adsorption forces allocation were studied. In order to solve the problems of sliding wall climbing robot's great power consumption and low efficiency design, a negative pressure generator of the low power consumption and high efficiency was investigated. After the analysis of robot's pressure needed and flow leakage fluid dynamics, the relationship between negative working pressure was established.Through the thermo dynamic analysis of the component process of state changes in suctions flow field was described, and the principles of the adsorption system were revealed. The results show that negative pressure can be stably generated and the system realize firmly adsorbing on wall. The theoretical and experimental result of wall climbing robot contributes to further perfecting the performance of robot.

The Preliminary Study of Wall Climbing Firefighting Rescue Robot for High-Rise and Super High-Rise Building

According to the present situation of domestic and foreign firefighting rescue equipment for high-rise building and from the actual needs of the high-rise building firefighting, this paper brief analysis the current development of domestic and international firefighting rescue equipments problems and the trend of firefighting rescue robot. Combined with the special conditions of high-rise and super high-rise building fire scene, this paper introduces a breaking-window wall climbing firefighting rescue robot for high-rise and super high-rise, and introduces the operation mechanism of each part and the structure and the work principle of the main functional components.

Mechanics Analysis and Dynamic Modeling of a Wall Climbing Robot

A kind of theoretical analysis method in wall climbing robot design is presented in this paper. Using this method, a flexible wall climbing robot is developed that can be well adopted in small irregular places. Firstly, an optimization mechanism is given based on the effective utilization of aerodynamic attraction produced by a centrifugal blower. Kinematics model of the robot is represented, then linear velocity function and angular velocity function of the robot are deduced. Dynamic model based on Lagrange equation is established, which can be a theoretical foundation for control system design. Finally, simulation results show that the dynamic model and the method are reliable since the curves of driving torque match the change of negative pressure.

A Wall Climbing Robot Based on the Improved Electro Adhesion Technology

Electro adhesion is a novel adhesion technology, offering a new method for the designing of adhesion type of climbing robot. In this paper, an improved electro adhesion technology is put forward, using ERG (Electro Rheological Gel) as the insulating layer of electrode array. Experiments show that the adhesion force is enhanced by using ERG and the electrode array has self-cleaning function to some extent. Finally, a climbing robot was developed and it can climb kinds of walls (such as wood, glass and concrete), which proves the effectiveness of the improved electro adhesion technology.

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.