Study of Magnetic Wheels with Planetary Gears which Make Running on Flange Paths Easy for Magnetic Wheeled Robot

Abstract

The plant equipment and infrastructure require periodic inspection work for early detection and repair of damaged area. Inspection by humans, however, is dangerous and takes a lot of time and money. Therefore, inspection robots are attracting attention. Magnetic wheels robot is one of the inspection robots and can run on surface of steel structures. The robot must have sufficiently run ability to break through various obstacles such as vertical walls, ceilings, and right-angled paths. The flange paths are the most difficult part to run. It turned out that the reaction force of the motor driving the wheels are pushing down the robot body to under the flange, and the reaction force is blocking the robot's running. Some previous studies have proposed driving methods and mechanisms to solve the problems. However, none of these methods led to a fundamental solution. We developed the magnetic wheels with a planetary gearset, that can reverse motor reaction forces. The robot with these wheels can use the motor reaction force to push up the body of the robot actively. We developed a robot SCPREM-I to demonstrate the effect of the running method using these wheels. Experiments found that it is possible to break through flange paths easily if the front and rear wheels with auxiliary legs are used properly.