Analyzing of tri-axis differential in-pipe robot with adaptive differential capability for moving inside pipelines

摘要

In this paper, a novel called Tri-axis Differential In-pipe Robot without tether cable, featured with adaptive differential capability is developed as a mobile platform for long distance inspection of moving inside pipelines. The robot has several remarkable features superior to the others such as an differential mechanism with adaptive differential capability in elbow. Consequently the in-pipe robot can equip with single driving motor to traverse through various pipeline elements smoothly with high efficiency without sophisticated sensory information. To confirm the effectiveness of the proposed robotic differential method, experiments are performed to quantify the differential precision of the respective driving wheel as well as the robotic driving efficiency.