Rescue inspectors to enhance accessibility and traverse ability using Magnetic Brake Cylinder

Two types of rescue inspectors are presented in order to enhance accessibility of disastrous sites. One is a rolling and jumping mobile inspector, which uses a pneumatic cylinder to jump over obstacles, and the other one is the throw and collect type rescue inspector, which deploys a child machine over high obstacles using a pneumatic cylinder In order to enhance their traversing ability, in this paper, a novel pneumatic cylinder is proposed, named magnetic brake cylinder (MB cylinder hereafter), which is composed of a tank, a pneumatic cylinder, and a permanent magnet. With this structure, the piston is held by the attractive force of the magnet until the pressure inside the tank is very high, offering a higher driving power than an ordinary cylinder. Its control method and the optimization process of its size are also introduced. The MB cylinder is then mounted into the presented inspectors, which show a higher jumping and throwing height than when using an ordinary cylinder, proving to be an efficient option of enhancement.