Numerical and Experimental Validation of the Prototype of a Bio-Inspired Piping Inspection Robot

Abstract

Piping inspection robots are of greater importance for industries such as nuclear, chemical and sewage. Mechanisms having closed loop or tree-like structures can be employed in such pipelines owing to their adaptable structures. A bio-inspired caterpillar type piping inspection robot was developed at Laboratoire des Sciences du Numérique de Nantes (LS2N), France. Using DC motors and leg mechanisms, the robot accomplishes the locomotion of a caterpillar in six-steps. With the help of Coulomb’s law of dry friction, a static force model was written and the contact forces between legs of robot and pipeline walls were determined. The actuator forces of the DC motors were then estimated under static phases for horizontal and vertical orientations of the pipeline. Experiments were then conducted on the prototype where the peak results of static force analysis for a given pipe diameter were set as threshold limits to attain static phases inside a test pipeline. The real-time actuator forces were estimated in experiments for similar orientations of the pipeline of static force models and they were found to be higher when compared to the numerical model.

An Optimal Design of a Flexible Piping Inspection Robot

“…Walking type [6], Inchworm type [7] and Screw type [8]. A bio-inspired piping inspection robot was designed and developed at LS2N, France [9]. This robot accomplishes the locomotion of a caterpillar in six-steps to move inside a pipeline.…”

“…The rigid bio-inspired robot developed at LS2N, France comprises three modules that ensure clamping and elongation phases for accomplishing the locomotion of a caterpillar. Each module consists of a DC brushless motor coupled with a spindle drive to convert rotary motion to prismatic movement [9,10]. The front and rear modules have 3 sets of slot-follower leg mechanisms each to have contact with the inner walls of pipelines at all instances of locomotion.…”

“…The 424744 series, on the other hand, offers a lesser feed force but this factor will be sufficient to accommodate the leg mechanisms based on experiments conducted on the existing prototype [9]. Also, the velocity offered by 424744 series is higher than 424745.…”

“…The geometry of the slot-follower leg mechanism and its assembly on the existing robot is represented in Fig. 8 Representation of the (a) geometry of slot-follower leg mechanism and (b) assembly of the mechanism on the existing prototype [9,10] for the leg mechanism were identified in [10] by a multi-objective optimization approach. In this article, a simple mono-objective optimization problem is solved wherein the dimensions of the leg mechanisms are identified through a geometrical approach.…”

Singularity and Workspace Analysis of 3-SPS-U and 4-SPS-U Tensegrity Mechanisms

“…A bio-inspired piping inspection robot was designed and developed at LS2N, France. This robot accomplishes the locomotion of a caterpillar in six steps to move inside a pipeline [1]. However, the prototype is a rigid model which restricts its application to straight pipelines.…”