Design of a mobile robot for the innovation in power line inspection and maintenance

Abstract

This paper presents a new design of mobile robot for power transmission line inspection and maintenance. The mechanical system of the robot is designed as a cable car with two multi-joint arms. Ground system and robot system constitute the whole robot control system. There are two locomotion modes for the robot navigating on the line: rolling with the wheel and crawling with the arms. Obstacle surmounting process for inspection robot is discussed in this paper also. The test results of the robot prototype in the laboratory validate the design and it is ready to undertake the further research for filed inspection tasks.