Snake-like robot negotiating three-dimensional pipelines

An in-pipe robot negotiating three dimensional pipelines including branches, elbows, vertical pipes, and diameter-changing pipes was developed. The robot consists of thirteen intelligent actuators, and applying the sinusoidal wave drive makes the robot form sinusoidal waves to obtain the propelling force by gripping pipe walls. In this paper, a newly developed micro servo controller mounted on each intelligent actuator and a newly developed rotational mechanism which controls the robot posture around the pipe axis are shown. These made the robot propel itself successfully in the three-dimensional pipelines and have the great adaptability to pipe diameter change from 40.0 to 205.0 [mm].