A method for optimal design of an inchworm climbing robot

Abstract

Many ferromagnetic structures require regular inspection and maintenance to ensure their longevity, structural integrity and aesthetics. These operations are often very hazardous to workers, as they are normally performed at height or in confined spaces, and can expose workers to hazardous materials such as lead based paints and vehicle fumes. An inchworm climbing robot has been proposed as a solution that would improve the quality of the inspection procedure and the occupational health and safety for the maintenance personnel while reducing setup times and costs. However, a number of challenges in designing such an inchworm robot arise from the environmental, mobility and safety factors. This paper describes these challenges for given design applications and presents a method to optimise the design to address the challenges. Analyses of the results attest to the feasibility of the solution.

Inverse Kinematic Analysis of a Redundant Hybrid Climbing Robot

“…Equating the elements (1,2), (2,2), (3,1), (3,3) and (3,2) gives the following equations: 11 12 = This case admits a similar analysis to the previous one: some unknowns must be solved in terms of the others and, in particular, we can choose to solve all the unknowns in terms of the variables φ 1B and y B to deal with simpler equations. However, since r 31 = r 32 = 0, a restriction is lost because Eq.…”

“…Let (68) and (70) into Eqs. (55) to (58), the elements (1,1), (1,3), (2,1) and (2,3) of the matrix A become equal to the same elements of B [see Eq. (14)].…”

“…Working on tall structures is very dangerous for human operators, who are exposed to the risk of falling from height, among others. Examples of such tasks include the periodic cleaning and inspection of glass façades in tall buildings [1], the periodic inspection and maintenance of metallic bridges [2] and power transmission lines [3], the inspection of welded unions in the construction industry [4], and tree climbing for branch trimming or fumigation [5]. Other applications of climbing robots can be found in [6], which also presents a comprehensive review of their main locomotion methods and adhesion technologies.…”

Experimental Evaluation of Nearest Neighbor Exploration Approach in Field Environments

“…The robot used in field trials in this paper is a robot with seven degrees of freedom (7DOF) based on an inchwormlike design which extends work by [16]. At either end of the robot a magnetic footpad is affixed which can be securely attached to ferromagnetic surfaces [17].…”

An approach for real-time motion planning of an inchworm robot in complex steel bridge environments

“…37 Steel bridges and other complex ferromagnetic structures lend themselves to being climbed by inchworm robots, as the many degrees of freedom (DOF) of the body allow transitions between surfaces with high angular variation and the ability to navigate around smaller obstacles such as rivets, with magnetic pads for adhesion to the ferromagnetic surface. 30 An inchworm robot 43 (Fig. 1) has been designed for the application scenario of inspection of a steel bridge (Fig.…”