A Study on Wall Surface Mobile Robots : Development of Moving Mechanism for Crawler-Type Wall Surface Mobile Robots with Vacuum Pads

Abstract

We study the moving mechanism of a wall surface mobile robot for hazard maintenance under gravity. This robot can attach itself to a vertical wall or ceiling by vacuum pads. The vacuum pads are set on the crawler so as to enable rapid mobility on the surface. Each vacuum pad is simply designed. There is a mechanical valve set at each sucker, and every sucker is connected to an air duct inside the crawler belt. The valve opens mechanically when the sucker touches the surface, and the sucker clings to the surface. By this mechanism, the sucking control system becomes simple. The vacuum pad is made of flexible material in order to ensure sufficient sucking force even when the surface is rough. This robot also has an automatic pushing mechanism for the suckers and distribution mechanism. We designed, fabricated and tested the prototype. In the experiment, this robot succeeded in smoothly and rapidly climbing the surface of vertical walls and ceilings having both rough and smooth finishes.