A novel frame climbing robot: Frambot

In this paper, we present a novel frame climbing robot, called Frambot which aims to climb on non-enclosable rectangular trusses. Frambot weighs only 1.6kg and consists of two grippers connected by a body linkage. For the grippers of Frambot, it provides not only the grasp on a truss structure, but also allows a linear truss climbing motion. Based on the mobility of Frambot, we propose new climbing gaits which aim to enhance the stability of truss climbing by reducing the extra angular moment generated during the swing motions in traditional truss climbing gaits. Both motion and dynamic torque simulations are performed for the analysis of the proposed gaits. Finally, the proposed gaits are realized in our robot prototype. Experimental results show that Frambot is capable in climbing non-enclosable trusses with the new climbing gaits.