A Compact and Compliant External Pipe-Crawling Robot

Singh, Puneet and Ananthasuresh, GK (2013) A Compact and Compliant External Pipe-Crawling Robot. In: IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON ROBOTICS, 29 (1). pp. 251-260.

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Abstract

The focus of this paper is on the practical aspects of design, prototyping, and testing of a compact, compliant external pipe-crawling robot that can inspect a closely spaced bundle of pipes in hazardous environments and areas that are inaccessible to humans. The robot consists of two radially deployable compliant ring actuators that are attached to each other along the longitudinal axis of the pipe by a bidirectional linear actuator. The robot imitates the motion of an inchworm. The novel aspect of the compliant ring actuator is a spring-steel compliant mechanism that converts circumferential motion to radial motion of its multiple gripping pads. Circumferential motion to ring actuators is provided by two shape memory alloy (SMA) wires that are guided by insulating rollers. The design of the compliant mechanism is derived from a radially deployable mechanism. A unique feature of the design is that the compliant mechanism provides the necessary kinematic function within the limited annular space around the pipe and serves as the bias spring for the SMA wires. The robot has a control circuit that sequentially activates the SMA wires and the linear actuator; it also controls the crawling speed. The robot has been fabricated, tested, and automated. Its crawling speed is about 45 mm/min, and the weight is about 150 g. It fits within an annular space of a radial span of 15 mm to crawl on a pipe of 60-mm outer diameter.

Item Type:	Journal Article
Publication:	IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON ROBOTICS
Publisher:	IEEE-INST ELECTRICAL ELECTRONICS ENGINEERS INC
Additional Information:	Copyright for this article belongs to IEEE-INST ELECTRICAL ELECTRONICS ENGINEERS INC, USA
Keywords:	Compliant mechanism;inchworm motion;pipe crawler;pipe inspection;shape memory alloy (SMA)
Department/Centre:	Division of Mechanical Sciences > Mechanical Engineering
Date Deposited:	11 Mar 2013 11:29
Last Modified:	11 Mar 2013 11:31
URI:	http://eprints.iisc.ac.in/id/eprint/45994

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