Abstract
The rope-climbing robot that can cling to a rope for locomotion has been a popular equipment for some inspection applications due to its high flexibility. In this study, a modular rope-climbing robot with the finger-wheeled mechanism is proposed. Due to the ingenious finger-wheeled mechanism and the modular structure, the robot can achieve smooth and quick movement and good capability of obstacle-crossing on the rope and has a high adaptability for different rope environments. On the basis of introducing the robot mechanism, the geometric definitions and descriptions that can present the robot configuration and position relative to the rope are established. Aiming at three typical states during obstacle-crossing, the geometric and force analysis is performed to establish the constraint equations for the robot, and then the simulation is carried out with the optimization calculating method to solve the geometric variables and external forces of the robot that can be used for the robot design work. Finally, the robot prototype is developed based on the design and analysis work, and the experiment is conducted to verify the performance of the robot.
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Abbreviations
- L OAi :
-
Input displacement of slider Ai in Fig. 6
- α i :
-
Rotation angle of link AiBi in Fig. 6
- β i :
-
Rotation angle of the crank BiCi in Fig. 6
- L hi :
-
Gripping height of the gripping module in Fig. 6
- L si :
-
Intersection height of the crossing module in Fig. 6
- L IJ :
-
Constant distances between points I and J in Fig. 6
- L W :
-
Distance between adjacent modules in Fig. 7
- L H :
-
Height of the module in Fig. 7
- φ i :
-
Slope angle of each rope segment in Fig. 7
- θ :
-
Obliquity of the robot body in Fig. 7
- θ 0 :
-
Base obliquity of the gripping line in Fig. 7
- θ′:
-
Relative obliquity controlled by fingers in Fig. 7
- N i :
-
Normal force from the rope in Fig. 8
- F i :
-
Tangential force from the rope in Fig. 8
- G :
-
Gravity of the robot in Fig. 8
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Acknowledgments
This work is supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 52005348).
The authors wish to thank Fabing Yan and Yunfei Zang who are master candidates in the authors’ laboratory for their contributions to the experiment work involved in this paper.
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Suyang Yu is a Lecturer of the School of Mechatronics Engineering, Shenyang Aerospace University, Shenyang, China. He received his Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from Shenyang Institute of Automation, Chinese Academy of Sciences, China. His research interests include mobile robot and aerospace equipment.
Changlong Ye is a Professor of the School of Mechatronics Engineering, Shenyang Aerospace University, Shenyang, China. He received his Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from Shenyang Institute of Automation, Chinese Academy of Sciences, China. His research interests include Biorobotics and rescue robot.
Guanghong Tao is an Associate Professor of the School of Mechatronics Engineering, Shenyang Aerospace University, Shenyang, China. He received his Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from Northeastern University, China. His research interests include inspection robot, redundant robot, omnidirectional robot.
Jian Ding is a Lecturer of the School of Mechatronics Engineering, Shenyang Aerospace University, Shenyang, China. He received his Ph.D. in Mechanical Manufacturing from Harbin Institute of Technology, China. His research interests include parallel mechanism, digital manufacturing, and space automaton technology.
Yinchao Wang is a Lecturer of the School of Mechatronics Engineering, Shenyang Aerospace University, Shenyang, China. He received his Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from Harbin Institute of Technology, China. His research interests include intelligent robot, ultrasonic drilling sampling, and piezoelectric actuation.
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Yu, S., Ye, C., Tao, G. et al. Design and analysis of a modular rope-climbing robot with the finger-wheeled mechanism. J Mech Sci Technol 35, 2197–2207 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12206-021-0436-0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12206-021-0436-0