Development of an Adaptive Mobile Robot for In-Pipe Inspection Task

For the purpose of performing internal inspection task of pipe, a robot based on adaptive mobile mechanism is developed. The robot equipped with one actuator has two working modes, a normal working mode and an assistant working mode. Robot under normal working mode performs monitoring tasks and travels in the pipe, while under assistant enhanced mode robot will surmount obstacle without any other driving actuator during executing tasks. The special feature is achieved by applying the adaptive mobile mechanism we proposed in this paper. A prototype has been set up and experiments have been conducted to testify the adaptability and efficiency of the robot. The results show that the robot can successfully climb up a step that is formed by concentric junction with a height of 5 mm.