In this paper, a new concept of a wall-climbing robot able to climb a vertical plane is presented. A continuous locomotive motion with a high climbing speed of 15m/min is realized by adopting a series chain on two tracked wheels on which 24 suction pads are installed. While each tracked wheel rotates, the suction pads which attach to the vertical plane are activated in sequence by specially designed mechanical valves. The engineering analysis and detailed mechanism design of the tracked wheel, including mechanical valves and the overall features, are described in this paper. It is a self-contained robot in which a vacuum pump and a power supply are integrated and is controlled remotely. The climbing performance, using the proposed mechanism, is evaluated on a vertical steel plate. Finally, the procedures are presented for an optimization experiment using Taguchi methodology to maximize vacuum pressure which is a critical factor for suction force.

Climbing robots have been widely applied in many industries involving hard to access, dangerous, or hazardous environments to replace human workers. Climbing speed, payload capacity, the ability to overcome obstacles, and wall-to-wall transitioning are significant characteristics of climbing robots. Here, multilinked track wheeltype climbing robots are proposed to enhance these characteristics. The robots have been developed for five years in collaboration with three universities: Seoul National University, Carnegie Mellon University, and Yeungnam University. Four types of robots are presented for different applications with different surface attachment methods and mechanisms: MultiTank for indoor sites, Flexible caterpillar robot (FCR) and Combot for heavy industrial sites, and MultiTrack for high-rise buildings. The method of surface attachment is different for each robot and application, and the characteristics of the joints between links are designed as active or passive according to the requirement of a given robot. Conceptual design, practical design, and control issues of such climbing robot types are reported, and a proper choice of the attachment methods and joint type is essential for the successful multilink track wheel-type climbing robot for different surface materials, robot size, and computational costs. C 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

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