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Development of a Bio-inspired Wall-Climbing Robot Composed of Spine Wheels, Adhesive Belts and Eddy Suction Cup

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 January 2020

Jinfu Liu Open the ORCID record for Jinfu Liu [Opens in a new window] ,
Linsen Xu ,
Shouqi Chen ,
Hong Xu ,
Gaoxin Cheng  and
Jiajun Xu
Jinfu Liu
Affiliation:
Institute of Advanced Manufacturing Technology, Hefei Institutes of Physical Science, CAS, Hefei, China University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui Province, China E-mail: liujinfu@mail.ustc.edu.cn
Linsen Xu*
Affiliation:
Institute of Advanced Manufacturing Technology, Hefei Institutes of Physical Science, CAS, Hefei, China Anhui Province Key Laboratory of Biomimetic Sensing and Advanced Robot Technology, Hefei, Anhui Province, China
Shouqi Chen
Affiliation:
University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui Province, China E-mail: liujinfu@mail.ustc.edu.cn
Hong Xu
Affiliation:
University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui Province, China E-mail: liujinfu@mail.ustc.edu.cn
Gaoxin Cheng
Affiliation:
University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui Province, China E-mail: liujinfu@mail.ustc.edu.cn
Jiajun Xu
Affiliation:
University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui Province, China E-mail: liujinfu@mail.ustc.edu.cn
*
*Corresponding author. E-mail: lsxu@iamt.ac.cn
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Summary

A novel wall-climbing robot with multiple attachment modes is proposed. For uneven surfaces, the mechanical model of a spine wheel is brought out to grab the surfaces with its multi-spines. For smooth surfaces, an adhesive belt is obtained by the industrial synchronous belt and the polyurethane material to adhere to the surfaces. To avoid the robot overturning, an adsorption device with flexible skirt edge is presented. In addition, the normal force and motor torque are evaluated respectively. Finally, the prototype of the wall-climbing robot is manufactured and tested, and the experimental results show that the robot could climb the wall surface 0–360° with a maximum load of 0.5 kg.

Keywords

Wall-climbing robotSpine wheelAdhesive beltEddy suction cupFlexible skirt edge
Type
Articles
Information
Robotica , Volume 39 , Issue 1 , January 2021 , pp. 3 - 22
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2020

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