On the Design of Multi-Task, Compact, Climbing Robotic NDT Systems for Remote Operation on Large Surfaces and in Hazardous Environments

A Low-Cost, Light-Weight Climbing Robot for Inspection of Class Curtains

“…Another similar example is SIRUSc, a fully automated robot for the Fraunhofer headquarters in Munich [17], and the main difference of the robot is that its tail is placed on the building roof. In contrast to all designs afore-cited, a balloon-based robot, which neutralizes the robot weight by a balloon [18], may be the most innovative design. Although highly interesting, the actual design is almost not introduced by any paper.…”

“…So far, operation arm is not a typical payload for climbing robots. In [18], B. Bridges introduces an agile arm with 6 DOF on a climbing robot for non-destructive test (NDT). Another inspiring design is the manipulator of CROMSCI which is a circular-shape arm [7], although it is relatively complex for our robots.…”

Versatile Robotic Instruments for NDT/NDE Data Acquisition

“…Figures I to 6 show six examples of development prototypes, variously displaying some or all of the above characteristics and for ease of cross reference brief functional descriptions are given in the captions rather than in the text. The instruments shown in Figures 1 to 4 have been described in more detail elsewhere [1][2][3][4][5][6], whilst the captions of Figures 5 to 6 give the first published descriptions of the prototypes illustrated. Figure 1.…”

“…It is shown carrying a low mass 5-axis arm costing less than £lk and capable of manipulating ultrasound or eddy current probes operating in a non-contact mode However the arm cannot deliver a force adequate enough for either wet or dry contact testing. [2][3][4][5][6]. In the photograph on the right hand side the payload mounting platform is shown empty for clarity.…”

Acquisition of Time of Flight Diffraction Data by Mobile Robots

“…The other advantage of using a robotic scanning arm is the ability to obtain repeatable TOFD data unaffected by fatigue which manual operators find very difficult to match when operating in remote and hazardous locations. The requirements of a scanning arm for remote NDT in hazardous environments are discussed in [8,9].…”