Design concept and motion planning of a single-moduled autonomous pipeline exploration robot

In this paper, we present the design concept and motion planning of a single-moduled fully autonomous mobile pipeline exploration robot that can be used for the inspection of Φ130~150mm pipelines. In this robot, the four straight wall-press caterpillar wheels are fixed 90 degrees apart in its circumstance and each wheel is operated by two DC motors integrated in it. The speed of each wheel is controlled independently to provide steering capability to go through 45 degree elbows, 90 degree elbows, T-branches, and Y-branches. The robot system has been developed and experimented in different pipeline layouts for the validation of its design concept and motion planning mechanism.