Design, modeling and analysis of a climbing robot used for inspection of glass curtain walls

Abstract

A wall climbing robot based on negative pressure suction is designed, modeled and analyzed for service inspection of glass walls. Statics and kinetics analysis are conducted in order to guarantee the rational design. For reliable adsorption and stable motion of the robot, the friction forces of the front and rear wheels are determined by equations related to the robot size, weight, location of the mass center and other parameters. All these theoretical analyses are foundations for the robot's mechanical design. Finally experiments of climbing and inspection on a skyscraper have been conducted to validate the correction of the analysis.