Wheeled-tracked vehicles are mainly suitable for relatively flat terrain. Legged-vehicles, on the other hand, have the potential to handle wide variety of terrain. Robug IIs is a legged climbing robot designed to work in relatively unstructured and rough terrain. It has the capability of walking, climbing vertical surfaces and performing autonomous floor to wall transfer. The sensing technique used in Robug IIs is mainly tactile and ultrasonic sensing. A set of reflexive rules has been developed for the robot to react to the uncertainty of the working environment. The robot also has the intelligence to seek and verify its own foot-holds.

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Purpose -Aims to report on the various types of tele-operated mobile service robots for remote inspection and maintenance, especially in the field of nuclear industry. Design/methodology/approach -Describes nuclear electric robot operator (NERO), Sizewell A duct inspection equipment (SADIE), Robug-IIs (all legbased) and Roboslave (wheel-based). Findings -That these robots can handle a significant portion of inspection and maintenance tasks in a typical nuclear plant, though, given that they are primarily tailor-made, they are still too expensive for ordinary industries. Originality/value -As the interests of health and safety and paramount, this study sees the use of such robots expanding and diversifying, irrespective of cost.

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