Design of a climbing robot for cleaning spherical surfaces

This paper proposes a new kind of auto-climbing robot which is used for cleaning the spherical surface of the newly built National Grand Theatre in China. Firstly, an overview of the robotic system is given. Then for system design and control purposes, the climbing process is studied in detail. The force distribution of the front and rear supporting mechanisms is computed in a way that ensures the safety of the climbing process. After that, a new approach to path planning for wall-cleaning robots is presented considering the movement security, cleaning efficiency and the percentage of cleaning coverage. The successful on-site test confirms the principles described above and the robot´s ability to work on a spherical surface