On Path Following Evaluation for a Tethered Climbing Robot

Abstract

Over the last years, there is a growing need for climbing robots performing autonomous inspection tasks of largescale infrastructure, to reduce inspection time and the overall operation costs. Thickness measurement, visual inspection, fault detection, etc. are a few examples of inspection and maintenance applications that could be performed autonomously by robotic platforms like climbing robots. One of the main challenges of inspecting large infrastructures, is the problem of path planning, as the path should be optimal to reduce the inspection time, incorporate sensor properties, and account for important robot requirements such as power supply cabling. This article proposes a novel path planner targeting inspection tasks, where the restrictions posed by the cabling on a Vortex Robot (VR), the attached sensor, and the properties of the scanned surfaces are taken into consideration. The presented framework is successfully evaluated in multiple closed-loop experiments, under different surface inclinations and VR orientations to demonstrate the efficacy of the path planning and control scheme.

Propeller-Type Wall-Climbing Robot for Visual and Hammering Inspection of Concrete Surfaces

“…3). The sawtooth-shaped path can minimize the steering actions of the robot by taking advantage of its backward motion [17]. First, the robot moves to the bottom of an area and then makes a direction change within ψ max .…”

Design Method of Intelligent Ropeway Type Line Changing Robot Based on Lifting Force Control and Synovial Film Controller

“…Using robots instead of manual construction of the foot frame and completion of the loosening of wire and guide wire back pumping procedures after upping the tower can improve the efficiency of demolition construction and reduce the construction difficulty and cost. It plays a significant role in improving the overall technical level of power line construction [9,10]. dos Santos [11] developed a ropeclimbing robot that can move on distribution lines and the corresponding motion planning to avoid collisions with insulators and other devices.…”