Development of climbing robot for steel bridge inspection

Abstract

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to present a design of climbing robot with magnetic wheels which can move on the surface of steel bridge. The locomotion concept is based on adapted lightweight magnetic wheel units with relatively high attractive force and friction force. Design/methodology/approach The robot has the main advantages of being compact (352 × – 215 × – 155 mm), lightweight (2.3 kg without battery) and simple mechanical structure. It is not only able to climb vertical walls and follow circumferential paths, but also able to pass complex obstacles such as bolts, steps, convex and concave corners with almost any inclination regarding gravity. By using a servo as a compliant joint, the wheel base can be changed to enable the robot to overcome convex corners. Findings The experiment results show that the climbing robot has a good performance on locomotion, and it is successful in negotiating the complex obstacles. On the other hand, the limitations in locomotion of the robot are also presented. Originality/value Compared with the past researches, the robot shows good performance on overcoming complex obstacles such as concave corners, convex corners, bolts and steps on the steel bridge. Magnetic wheel with the characterization of compact size and lightweight is able to provide bigger adhesion force and friction coefficient.

Advances in Climbing Robots for Vertical Structures in the Past Decade: A Review

“…Pagano et al [ 61 ] designed a seven-degree-of-freedom (7-DOF) inchworm-like climbing robot, and adopted a real-time path planning method based on the LOS algorithm so that the robot can climb autonomously in restricted areas within steel bridges. Wang et al [ 62 ] designed a four-wheel climbing robot composed of a body, four magnetic wheels, a steering system, and a shock absorber. The robot can climb vertical surfaces and reverse horizontal surfaces and can cross complex obstacles, such as bolts, steps, convex corners, and concave corners.…”

“…Wheels are one of the most common locomotion modes and have been applied to many climbing robots. Wheeled climbing robots commonly have three [ 94 , 142 ], four [ 52 , 62 ], or six wheels [ 12 ]. The cable-climbing WRC 2 IN-I robot adopts three sets of wheel-drive devices that are evenly distributed in the circumferential direction at 120° angles to each other.…”

Modelling, simulation and experimental validation of wheel and arm locomotion based wall-climbing robot

“…Although adding a four-bar arm configuration with omni-climbing wheels improves maneuverability, but it restricts its ability to convey obstacles on its path in the steel structures. A wall-climbing robot with permanent magnetic wheels that can move on the vertical surface of the steel bridge was developed in [20]. A wall-climbing robot [21] comprises four motorized permanent magnetic wheels for creating the net adhesion force required to hold the robot on the vertical wall surface without consuming any power.…”

Multi-body dynamics model of crawler wall-climbing robot

“…Extensive experiments prove its stable wall climbing ability and excellent cleaning performance. 5 In addition, wall-climbing robots are used in ship rust removal, [6][7][8] bridge maintenance, [9][10][11] building cleaning, 12,13 investigation and rescue 14,15 and other fields.…”