In this paper, we propose a new design of the permanent magnet reluctance wheel which will make it possible to attach the robot to a vertical plane and move it. In the newly suggested design, a permanent magnet is utilized to enhance the adhesive force during attachment, and an electromagnet is produced to weaken the magnetic field of the permanent magnet and reduce the adhesive force for easier detachment of wheels from steel plates. To characterize the performance of this new wheel design, a 3-D finite element analysis is executed using a commercial FE program. The results show that the adhesive force is reduced effectively by the electromagnet which flows in the reverse direction of the magnetic loop of the permanent magnet when the current is supplied to the coil.

In order to build a ship, painting on ship cargo tank is one of the most dangerous parts as it involves working in high altitudes and a closed ship cargo tank. Therefore, researchers have been developing devices that will enable mobile robots to operate on vertical walls. The wall-climbing robots have been widely used to attach on the wall such as suction types. These types can be utilized regardless of the wall material. However, it is required to adhere and control the suction cups. To moderate this drawbacks, this paper proposes an automatic painting robot that uses a permanent magnet mobile robot. Using the magnetic characteristics, this robot can move on the boat vertically and horizontally even while hanging on the ceiling of the ship cargo tank. Also, we made a prototype to test adhesive force of the permanent magnet wheel and mobile robot as well as the towing capacity and auto-piloting ability.