Dynamic model and simulation of an inspection robot for power transmission lines: Preliminary results

Power line inspection and maintenance are fields of application where robotics has yet to be introduced. This paper presents the dynamic model and control of a 5 dof (degrees of freedom) dual-arm hanging robot manipulator. Prior to the construction of a prototype, it is worthwhile and necessary to model and analyze the robot performance, by means of numerical simulation, under conditions closer to reality, such as wind currents, joint and contact friction, sampling time, train gear and actuator dynamics, control strategies, among others. For the sake of simplicity, and without loss of generality, the inspection robot is considered as an open kinematics chain, wherein one of its extremities is fixed to the line and the other one is free to move. Based on the Euler-Lagrange formalism, the accomplished model is non-linear, fully actuated, and nonredundant, with rigid links and joints. Validity of the dynamic model is verified through numerical simulations by using Matlab-Simulink.