A small climbing robot for the intelligent inspection of nuclear power plants

Since Fukushima nuclear accident, the international society are paying more and more attention on the safety of nuclear power. The healthy monitoring is the most important means for earth warning. In this paper, we developed a wall-climbing robotic system for intelligent monitoring in nuclear power plants. It was made up of mechanical, control, and inspection subsystems. The robot was designed as a bipedal robot with five degrees of freedom. Supported by two suction feet, it could travel on flat and inclined surfaces, or move across different surfaces. It was actuated by an embedded controller, which was developed based on an ARM microprocessor and μc/os-ii operating systems. The controller also received and processed the telemanipulation commands from the operator. To supply complete information about the environment and key devices, the robot was equipped with optimal cameras, radiometers, barometer and thermometer. These sensors and their electrical parts constituted the inspection subsystem. At last, the robotic prototype was manufactured and experimented. Experiment results verified its flexibility and reliability.