Wall climbing robot in narrow space with pantograph-type structure

Abstract

Extensive developments have been in progress in recent years to make robots that can move and inspect in narrow space which is not accessible to human such as sewer pipe, and small opening among buildings. In this paper, we focus on narrow space between two walls and introduce a novel wall climbing robot that can move in vertical narrow space. This robot is composed of two driving modules and a pantograph in between that generates pushing force against the walls to prevent from falling down. Two different kinds of springs are installed to the pantograph in order to secure certain amount of pushing force. The proposed mechanism reduces the changing of the pushing force even if the inter-wall distance changes and makes the smooth movement possible.