Mechanical Design Optimization of a Piping Inspection Robot

Chablat, Damien; Venkateswaran, Swaminath; Boyer, Frédéric

doi:10.1016/j.procir.2018.02.015

Cited by 22 publications

(21 citation statements)

References 10 publications

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“…3. The caterpillar locomotion from [7] has been retained in this architecture. This module ensures tight contact with pipeline walls through a force control algorithm inside vertical and horizontal orientations.…”

Section: Architecture Of the New Piping Inspection Robotmentioning

confidence: 96%

“…Recently, Henry et al and Chablat et al [7][8][9] have proposed a bio-inspired piping inspection robot that is capable of inspecting pipelines between diameter range of 40-94 mm. The schema of the robot proposed in [7] is represented in Fig. 1.…”

Section: Design Factors and Constraints For Developing A New Architecmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Zhang et al [6] also proposed a robot with a passive flexible helical axle articulation unit. A bio-inspired piping inspection robot has been presented in [7] and [8]. By coupling leg mechanisms with linear actuators, the robot moves like a caterpillar and establishes a tight contact with the walls of pipeline [7] .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…A bio-inspired piping inspection robot has been presented in [7] and [8]. By coupling leg mechanisms with linear actuators, the robot moves like a caterpillar and establishes a tight contact with the walls of pipeline [7] . However, the robot is incapable of working inside junctions and bends as it is a rigid prototype.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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A new inspection robot for pipelines with bends and junctions

Venkateswaran

Chablat

2019

Advances in Mechanism and Machine Science

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The application of robots for the inspection of pipelines are of greater significance in industries such as nuclear, chemical and sewage. The major problem in the design of these robots lies in the selection of a suitable locomotion principle, selection of an articulation unit that facilitates the robot to pass through pipe bends and management of cables. In this context, the design of a new bio-inspired piping inspection robot that resembles an elephant trunk has been presented. With the help of leg mechanisms and actuators, a caterpillar locomotion is used within this trunk for establishing adaptive contact points with the walls of pipeline. For the passage through bends and junctions, several case studies of existing researches have been taken into account for the design of an articulation unit. Two solutions, (i) a passive tensegrity structure and (ii) an active tensegrity structure have been proposed for the robot to pass through pipe bends and junctions. A detailed design analysis of the passive solution that uses a universal joint has been presented in this article.

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Section: Architecture Of the New Piping Inspection Robotmentioning

confidence: 96%

Section: Design Factors and Constraints For Developing A New Architecmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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A new inspection robot for pipelines with bends and junctions

Venkateswaran

Chablat

2019

Advances in Mechanism and Machine Science

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“…Robots that climb on vertical surfaces have been developed for such applications. Commonly, robots are used for buildings, bridges [1], pipes [2,3], and power lines [4]. In the same way, they are used for maintenance applications: Wall maintenance [5], power line maintenance [6], and wind tower maintenance [7].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Multi-Sensor Orientation Tracking for a Façade-Cleaning Robot

Vega-Heredia

Ilyas

Ghanta

et al. 2020

Sensors

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Glass-façade-cleaning robots are an emerging class of service robots. This kind of cleaning robot is designed to operate on vertical surfaces, for which tracking the position and orientation becomes more challenging. In this article, we have presented a glass-façade-cleaning robot, Mantis v2, who can shift from one window panel to another like any other in the market. Due to the complexity of the panel shifting, we proposed and evaluated different methods for estimating its orientation using different kinds of sensors working together on the Robot Operating System (ROS). For this application, we used an onboard Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU), wheel encoders, a beacon-based system, Time-of-Flight (ToF) range sensors, and an external vision sensor (camera) for angular position estimation of the Mantis v2 robot. The external camera is used to monitor the robot’s operation and to track the coordinates of two colored markers attached along the longitudinal axis of the robot to estimate its orientation angle. ToF lidar sensors are attached on both sides of the robot to detect the window frame. ToF sensors are used for calculating the distance to the window frame; differences between beam readings are used to calculate the orientation angle of the robot. Differential drive wheel encoder data are used to estimate the robot’s heading angle on a 2D façade surface. An integrated heading angle estimation is also provided by using simple fusion techniques, i.e., a complementary filter (CF) and 1D Kalman filter (KF) utilizing the IMU sensor’s raw data. The heading angle information provided by different sensory systems is then evaluated in static and dynamic tests against an off-the-shelf attitude and heading reference system (AHRS). It is observed that ToF sensors work effectively from 0 to 30 degrees, beacons have a delay up to five seconds, and the odometry error increases according to the navigation distance due to slippage and/or sliding on the glass. Among all tested orientation sensors and methods, the vision sensor scheme proved to be better, with an orientation angle error of less than 0.8 degrees for this application. The experimental results demonstrate the efficacy of our proposed techniques in this orientation tracking, which has never applied in this specific application of cleaning robots.

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Design and multiobjective optimization of a two‐point contact ladder‐climbing robot using a genetic algorithm

Shah,

Dave,

Chauhan

et al. 2024

Journal of Field Robotics

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This paper presents the design and optimization of a climbing robot. The design of a ladder‐climbing robot is done with fundamental mathematical considerations. The designed robot is robust enough to manage all environmental calamities, and at the same time, it is optimized for lightweight to reduce the actuator's cost and ease of transportation. An analytical evaluation is carried out for both static and dynamic conditions to determine strength and motion characteristics. The multiobjective optimization of the design parameters of a ladder‐climbing robot is done to obtain optimized values of design parameters. The formulation of an optimization problem that considers the minimization of weight and natural frequency is performed. Using an evolutionary genetic algorithm (GA) for the multicriteria optimization problem is solved, and a Pareto front solution is obtained. The optimal values of the parameters are decided based on the knee selection technique. As both objective functions are contradictory, the optimum results significantly improve the robot's performance. Controlling the proportional–integral–derivative (PID) parameters is crucial as the robot climbs with a two‐point contact gait pattern. The controlling parameters impart stability to the robot. PID parameters like proportional, integral and derivative gain are tunned using the GA. Finally, the developed prototype is tested on the ladders of the tower, and satisfactory climbing motion is achieved.

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Mechanical Design Optimization of a Piping Inspection Robot

Cited by 22 publications

References 10 publications

A new inspection robot for pipelines with bends and junctions

A new inspection robot for pipelines with bends and junctions

Multi-Sensor Orientation Tracking for a Façade-Cleaning Robot

Design and multiobjective optimization of a two‐point contact ladder‐climbing robot using a genetic algorithm

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