• Journal of Advanced Marine Engineering and Technology
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• v.41 no.1
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• pp.62-69
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• 2017

This paper presents a methodology for evaluating the performance of wall-climbing robots. In the literature on wall-climbing robots, there is little information on indices and evaluation methods for consistent and exact performance. Because various types of wall-climbing robots can be developed with regard to adherence and locomotion, a general method of measuring their performance regardless of type is needed. Therefore, we propose two major performance indices-the vertical adhering weight and vertical climbing speed-and their stepwise evaluation procedures. To verify the effectiveness of the proposed method, we applied it to a hull-climbing robot that we previously developed. The target robot was evaluated to have a vertical adhering weight of 18.5 kg through a slip measurement procedure and a vertical climbing speed of 41 cm/s with a position control system.