Self-contained wall-climbing robot with closed link mechanism

Abstract

A self-contained wall-climbing robot called MRWALLSPECT-II, is presented. The robot has characteristic features in the kinematic design of the leg with closed link mechanism. It reduces the number of actuators compared to the previous ones and makes it possible to have high force-to-weight ratio. Those are enabled by adopting a simple and robust gait pattern mimicking a living creature. Also, as the robot is designed to be a self-contained one, it includes all the components such as air compressors, vacuum generators, an embedded controller, batteries, a CCD camera, sensors, motors and electronics in itself without any tether cable. Its communication with the operating site in the ground is conducted through wireless LAN. In the paper, its principles of design and configuration of the robot are introduced.