Morphological change in peristaltic crawling motion of a narrow pipe inspection robot inspired by earthworm’s locomotion

Peristaltic locomotion without digital controllers: Exploiting multi-stability in origami to coordinate robotic motion

“…As a result, peristaltic locomotion has been implemented in many worm-inspired crawling robots for field exploration and in-pipe inspection. However, these robots typically require many actuatorssuch as pneumatic chambers [4,5,6], shape memory alloy (SMA) springs [7], electric motors [8], or permanent magnets [9]-to activate their segments individually. Moreover, a complicated control architecture is also necessary to coordinate the individual segment deformation to achieve peristaltic locomotion (Figure 1(c)).…”

A Worm-Inspired Robot Flexibly Steering on Horizontal and Vertical Surfaces

“…The worm's motion in nature is divided into several types; however, what has been most widely studied is the movement of earthworm, which is able to move flexibly in complex spatial environments on the surface or underground with a simple body structure [5]. It is also because of this feature that earthworms have become a source of inspiration for many research projects [6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14].…”

“…For pipeline inspection robots, the ability to pass through elbow pipes is necessary. Therefore, earthworm-inspired pipe robots are usually designed with elastic structures that can help them move along curved pipes [9,10]. For example, the pipe inspection robot introduced in [9] is designed to pass through complex elbow pipe systems.…”

“…Therefore, earthworm-inspired pipe robots are usually designed with elastic structures that can help them move along curved pipes [9,10]. For example, the pipe inspection robot introduced in [9] is designed to pass through complex elbow pipe systems. On the one hand, each segment of the robot is made of elastic materials such as rubber and springs to gain flexibility.…”

Driving Mechanisms, Motion, and Mechanics of Screw Drive In-Pipe Robots: A Review

“…2019, 9, x FOR PEER REVIEW 2 of 14 Therefore, numerous studies have proposed active in-pipe robots which can travel autonomously in pipelines. At present, these robots are mainly divided into six types: Gravity walking wheel (track) type [9][10][11]; wall-press wheel (track) type [12][13][14][15][16]; screw type [17][18][19][20][21]; inchworm (caterpillar) type [22,23]; walking type [24,25]; and snake type [26][27][28]. Among the active in-pipe robots, the screw drive in-pipe robot (SDIR) has been increasingly researched due to its simple driving (single power source) and numerous advantages [29].…”