Development of High-Speed Type Peristaltic Crawling Robot for Long-Distance and Complex-Line Sewer Pipe Inspection

Abstract

Currently, serious accidents are caused frequently by the aging of sewer pipes. Therefore, to inspect sewer pipes, we developed a peristaltic crawling robot that reproduces the locomotion of an earthworm. This robot can drive for more than 100m, and it can be used for the maintenance of sewer pipes (100A pipes). However, the speed of the robot is low. There are two causes. First, the units of the previous robot have steps of artificial muscle fastening. These steps increase the diameter of the artificial muscles. A smaller diameter of the artificial muscles is advantageous for the speed of the robot inside the pipes. Second, the previous robot has slow air response. In this study, we used large-sized solenoid valves to overcome this drawback.