A Comprehensive Review on Climbing Robots: Mechanisms, Adhesion Techniques, and Applications

Abstract

Robots that climb have recently emerged as an important class of mobile robots; they are capable of negotiating vertical or inclined surfaces and therefore have a great advantage in hazardous or hardly accessible environments for humans. Such robots will find critical applications in the inspection of infrastructures, the maintenance of nuclear plants, search and rescue operations, and space exploration. This review undertakes an exhaustive survey of climbing robot technologies by emphasizing the locomotion mechanisms and adhesion techniques available as well as their practical applications. The climbing strategies such as wheeled, tracked, legged, and hybrid systems are considered together with adhesion methods of magnetic, vacuum suction, dry adhesion, electro adhesion, and mechanical gripping. It gives the comparative advantages and limitations of each method in different environments. The present challenges in control, energy efficiency, and surface compatibility are discussed. Further advances in the integration of soft robotics, and adaptive designs are highlighted. This review tries to point out where future research should go by indicating opportunities for improving the performance and generality of climbing robots.