Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-7cvxr Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-28T19:38:15.440Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Omnidirectional locomotion and traction control of the wheel-driven, wall-climbing robot, Cromsci

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 April 2011

D. Schmidt*
Affiliation:
Robotics Research Lab, University of Kaiserslautern, Kaiserslautern, Germany
C. Hillenbrand
Affiliation:
Robotics Research Lab, University of Kaiserslautern, Kaiserslautern, Germany
K. Berns
Affiliation:
Robotics Research Lab, University of Kaiserslautern, Kaiserslautern, Germany
*
*Corresponding author. E-mail: dschmidt@cs.uni-kl.de

Summary

Safe and cost-efficient inspection of large concrete buildings is a great challenge for mobile robots. This paper presents the locomotion system of the climbing robot, Cromsci, which uses three steerable standard wheels and negative pressure adhesion. We will introduce criteria to avoid robot slip and tilt, and methods to enhance stability. One elementary part is the close-loop-controlled adhesion system with seven individual negative pressure chambers to balance out tilt or dynamic effects caused by leaky pressure chambers. The second part is the locomotion control using a special traction control mechanism to enhance robot navigation, which will also be presented here.

Type
Articles
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2011

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1.Autumn, K., Buehler, M., Cutkosky, M., Fearing, R., Full, R. J., Goldman, D., Groff, R., Provancher, W., Rizzi, A. A., Saranli, U., Saunders, A. and Koditschek, D. E., “Robotics in Scansorial Environments,” Proceedings of SPIE – The International Society for Optical Engineering, Vol. 5804 (2005).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
2.Berns, K. and Hillenbrand, C., “Robosense – A Climbing Robot to Examine Bridges and Dams,” Proceedings of 32nd International Symposium on Robotics (ISR), Seoul, Korea (2001).Google Scholar
3.Berns, K. and Puttkamer, E. V.Autonomous Land Vehicles: Steps Towards Service Robots (Vieweg+Teubner Verlag, Wiesbaden, Germany, 2009).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
4.Bonaccorso, F., Longo, D. and Muscato, G., “Modelling of An Innovative Actuator for Climbing Robot Adhesion,” Proceedings of the 12th International Conference on Climbing and Walking Robots (CLAWAR) (Sep. 2009) pp. 891–898.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
5.Burckhardt, M., Fahrwerktechnik: Radschlupf-Regelsysteme (Vogel Buchverlag, Germany, 1993).Google Scholar
6.Elkmann, N., Lucke, M., Krüger, T., Kunst, D. and Stürze, T., “Kinematics, Sensors and Control of the Fully Automated Facade Cleaning Robot SIRIUSc for the Fraunhofer Headquarters Building Munich,” Proceedings of the 10th International Conference on Climbing and Walking Robots (CLAWAR) (July 2007) pp. 169–176.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
7.Fischer, W., Tache, F. and Siegwart, R., “Magnetic Wall Climbing Robot for Thin Surfaces with Specific Obstacles,” Proceedings of the 6th International Conference on Field and Service Robotics (FSR) (July 2007) pp. 551–531.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
8.Hayakawa, T., Nakamura, T. and Suzuki, H., “Development of a Wave Propagation Type Wall-Climbing Robot Using a Fan and Slider Cranks,” Proceedings of the 12th International Conference on Climbing and Walking Robots (CLAWAR) (Sep. 2009) pp. 439–446.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
9.Hillenbrand, C. and Berns, K., “The Force Controlled Propulsion and Adhesion System for a Climbing Robot,” Proceedings of the 9th International Conference on Climbing and Walking Robots (CLAWAR) (Sep. 2006a) pp. 158–161.Google Scholar
10.Hillenbrand, C. and Berns, K., “Inspection of Surfaces with a Manipulator Mounted on a Climbing Robot,” Proceedings of the 37th International Symposium on Robotics (ISR), Munich, Germany (2006b).Google Scholar
11.Hillenbrand, C., Schmidt, D., Berns, K., Leichner, T., Gastauer, T. and Sauer, B., “Development of a Sealing System for a Climbing Robot with Negative Pressure Adhesion,” Proceedings of the 10th International Conference on Climbing and Walking Robots (CLAWAR) (July 2007) pp. 115–124.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
12.Hillenbrand, C., Schmidt, D. and Berns, K., “Cromsci – Development of a climbing robot with negative pressure adhesion for inspections,” Ind. Rob. 35 (3) (May 2008) (Emerald Group Publishing Ltd.) pp. 228237.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
13.Hillenbrand, C., Sicheres Klettern eines Radgetriebenen Roboters mit Unterdruckkammern an Poroesen Flaechen. Dissertation (University of Kaiserslautern, Germany Nov. 2008).Google Scholar
14.Jung, M., Schmidt, D. and Berns, K., “Behavior-Based Obstacle Detection and Avoidance System for the Omnidirectional Climbing Robot Cromsci,” Proceedings of the 13th International Conference on Climbing and Walking Robots (CLAWAR) (Aug. 2010) pp. 73–80.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
15.Kim, S., Asbeck, A., Provancher, W. and Cutkosky, M. R., “Spinybot II: Climbing Hard Walls with Compliant Microspines,” Proceedings of the IEEE International Conference on Advanced Robotics (ICAR) (July 2005) pp. 601–606.Google Scholar
16.Kim, S., Spenko, M., Trujillo, S., Heyneman, B., Mattoli, V. and Cutkosky, M. R., “Whole Body Adhesion: Hierarchical, Directional and Distributed Control of Adhesive Forces for a Climbing Robot,” Proceedings of the IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA) (Apr. 2007) pp. 1268–1273.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
17.Luk, B. L., Liu, L. and Collie, A., “Climbing Service Robots for Improving Safety in Building Maintenance Industry.” Proceedings of International Conference on Bioinspiration and Robotics: Walking and Climbing Robots (2007) pp. 127–146.Google Scholar
18.Lutz, H. and Wendt, W., Taschenbuch der Regelungstechnik, 6th ed. (Verlag Harri Deutsch, Germany, 2005).Google Scholar
19.Marx, C., Schmidt, D., Hillenbrand, C. and Berns, K., “Force and Traction Controlled Propulsion of the Omnidirectional Wheeled Climbing Robot Cromsci,” Proceedings of the 12th International Conference on Climbing and Walking Robots (CLAWAR) (Sep. 2009) pp. 757–764.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
20.Pacejka, H. B., Tire and Vehicle Dynamics, 2nd ed. (SAE International, Pennsylvania, 2005).Google Scholar
21.Prahlad, H., Pelrine, R., Stanford, S., Marlow, J. and Kornbluh, R., “Electroadhesive Robots – Wall Climbing Robots Enabled by a Novel, Robust and Electrically Controllable Adhesion Technology,” Proceedings of the International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA) (May 2008) pp. 3028–3033.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
22.Shang, J., Bridge, B., Sattar, T. P., Monal, S. and Brenner, A., “Development of a Climbing Robot for Inspection of Long Weld Lines,” Proceedings of the 10th International Conference on Climbing and Walking Robots (CLAWAR) (July 2007) pp. 105–114.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
23.Siegwart, R. and Nourbakhsh, I. R., Introduction to Autonomous Mobile Robots (MIT Press, Cambridge, MA, 2004).Google Scholar
24.Simons, F., Verhalten von passiv betriebenen Sauggreifern unter der Krafteinwirkung von Kletterrobotern. Dissertation (University of Stuttgart, Germany, 2006).Google Scholar
25.Penko, M. J., Haynes, G. C., Saunders, J. A., Cutkosky, M. R., Rizzi, A. A., Full, R. J. and Koditschek, D. E., “Biologically inspired climbing with a hexapedal robot,” J. Field Rob. 25 (4–5), pp. 223242 (2008) (Wiley Periodicals).Google Scholar
26.Unver, O., Uneri, A., Aydemir, A. and Sitti, M., “Geckobot: A Gecko Inspired Climbing Robot Using Elastomer Adhesives,” Proceedings of the IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA) (May 2006) pp. 2329–2335.Google Scholar
27.Weise, F., Köhnen, J., Wiggenhauser, H., Hillenbrand, C. and Berns, K., “Non-Destructive Sensors for Inspection of Concrete Structures with a Climbing Robot,” Proceedings of the International Conference on Climbing and Walking Robots (CLAWAR) (Sep. 2001) pp. 945–952.Google Scholar
28.Wettach, J., Hillenbrand, C. and Berns, K., “Thermodynamical Modelling and Control of An Adhesion System for a Climbing Robot,” Proceedings of the 20th IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA) (Apr. 2005) pp. 2727–2732.Google Scholar
29.Xiao, J. and Sadegh, A., “City-Climber: A New Generation Wall-Climbing Robots,” In: Climbing & Walking Robots, Towards New Applications (I-Tech Education and Publishing, Vienna, Austria, 2007) pp. 383402.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
30.Zhang, H., Zhang, J., Zong, G., Wang, W. and Liu, R., “Sky cleaner 3 – a real pneumatic climbing robot for glass-wall cleaning,” IEEE Rob. Autom. Mag. 13 (1), 3241 (2006).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
31.Zhang, H. X., Wang, W. and Zhang, J. W., “High Stiffness Pneumatic Actuating Scheme and Improved Position Control Strategy Realization of a Pneumatic Climbing Robot,” Proceedings of the IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Biomimetics (ROBIO) (Feb. 2009) pp. 1806–1811.CrossRefGoogle Scholar