Development of Robotic Inspection System for Small Pipelines

Abstract

Automated probing and inspection inside small pipelines have become a hot topic among the micro-robot researchers in both universities and companies worldwide. The reason for that is the potential applications in nuclear power plants (PWR), civil engineering (gas and water) and in chemical plants and so on. This paper outlines the R & D activities on robotic inspection systems for 20mm-diameter pipelines conducted at Shanghai University in collaboration with NDT Center for Nuclear Industry. The locomotion mechanism comparison and synthesis are covered first. Several robotic inspection systems and different locomotion mechanisms are presented. Further development goals underway are briefly discussed.