Proposed locomotion strategy for a traveling-wave-type omnidirectional wall-climbing robot for spherical surfaces

This paper describes a proposal for a locomotion strategy for an omnidirectional wall-climbing robot for spherical surfaces. This robot was developed for inspecting the walls of ships and gas tanks, which require regular inspection. Because such walls are ferromagnetic, many other wall-climbing robots have been developed. However, the stable movement of such robots is prevented by their small contact area. Conversely, we have developed a travelling-wave-type omnidirectional mobile robot that uses the locomotion mechanism of a snail. This robot travels omnidirectionally and achieves stable movement through its large contact area. Previously, we equipped our traveling-wave-type omnidirectional robot with a permanent magnetic adhesion mechanism and confirmed its wall-climbing ability. Moreover, we installed universal joints to allow this robot to adjust to curved surfaces. In this paper, we model the robot in 3-dimensional space and suggest an omnidirectional locomotion method for spherical surfaces. Through simulation, we verify the availability of locomotion strategy.