Development of Pneumatic Driven Robot System which can Entry and Retire from Gas Pipe

Abstract

There is a need for technology to inspect inside the gas pipe without excavation. In this paper, we introduce a robot called WATER-5; a pneumatically driven robot that moves inside gas pipes and acquires states of pipe walls with its camera. This robot consists of two grippers: an elastic flexible actuator (EFA), and an active bending module (ABM). It propels by the periodic drive of the grippers and the EFA like an inchworm. Also, it can enter the curved sections and select branches using the ABM. To assist the propulsion of the robot when entering, the robot is pushed in by a push-in machine attached to the gas meter. And when leaving the pipes, the robot is reeled in by a winder from the ground. Entry and retreating experiments were conducted using test pipes with two different inner diameter pipes, 28[mm] and 53 [mm], and multiple bends.