Design of A High Strength Multi-Steering Climbing Robot for Steel Bridge Inspection

Abstract

The Advanced Robotics and Automation (ARA) Lab has engineered its next-generation robot for steel bridge inspection. This particular design is specialized for its particularly high strength adhesion force and high maneuverability. The robot can utilize various steering configurations such as Ackermann, synchronous and static point steering while navigating steel structures and adhering to cylindrical members. The adhesion system creates a comprehensive platform for adding extra sensing equipment by the user and will serve as a basis for future works. This paper will discuss in detail the design work done to ensure that the proposed robot would function as intended before we made it and show how the capabilities we engineered the proposed robot have made it a step forward for the steel inspection industry.