• 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.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Building Construction Conference
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• 2010.05a
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• pp.33-36
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• 2010

The attention in construction Automation is getting higher since it could be the answer to the lack of skilled labor by decrease in construction population and aging which adversely affects productivity and quality in the construction site. We are on the way to develop a construction automation system adequate for domestic circumstances in Korea; it is called RCA(Robotic-crane based Construction Automation)system. Climbing hydraulic robots system is a part of RCA system and makes Construction factory(CF) climb through the guide rail on the core wall. The safety of climbing hydraulic robots system is at issue due to the overloaded weight of CF. Preventing this issue, present study did the design verification through the structural analysis and the simulation. Mock-up test also was done to analyze the drive performance of climbing hydraulic robots system.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Machine Tool Engineers
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• v.17 no.6
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• pp.35-42
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• 2008

Most of tasks for vertical surface work in shipyard have been accomplished by human workers. However, such manual work often causes injury to workers, also the production cost becomes high due to increasing individual wage. To cope with the circumstance, shipbuilding companies try to introduce wall-climbing robots for carrying out such kind of tasks. In designing a wall-climbing robot, it is essential to minimize its own weight to improve the performance such as moving speed and power saving. For such purpose. this study proposes a method of optimal design for a wall-climbing robot using a genetic algorithm with multi-objective function. Specifically, the thickness of the robot base is minimized to reduce the weight while maintaining the allowable strength and avoiding the resonance frequencies. The proposed method is applied to the design of a wall-climbing robot, and the result shows that the method is useful at an early design stage.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.18 no.8
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• pp.344-349
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• 2017

Wall-climbing robots have been developed for various purposes, such as cleaning skyscraper windows, maintaining large structures, and welding vessels. Conventional wall-climbing robots use movement systems based on wheels or legs. However, wheeled robots suffer from slipping effects, while legged systems require many actuators and control systems for the complex linkage structure, which also increases the weight of the robot. To overcome these disadvantages, we propose a new wall-climbing robot that walks based on gorilla locomotion. The proposed robot consists of a DC drive motor, a vacuum pump for adsorption, and a micro controller for controlling the system. The performance of the robot was experimentally verified on vertical and horizontal flat surfaces. The robot could be used for various functions in industrial sites or disaster areas.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Precision Engineering
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• v.29 no.2
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• pp.178-184
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• 2012

This paper presents a transformable track mechanism for wall climbing robots. The proposed mechanism allows a wall climbing robot to go over obstacles by transforming the track shape, and also increases contact area between track and wall surface for safe attachment. The track mechanism is realized using a timing belt track with one driving actuator. The inner frame of the track consists of serially connected 5R-joints and 1P-joint, and all joints of the inner frame are passively operated by springs, so the mechanism does not require any actuators and complex control algorithms to change its shape. Static analysis is carried out to determine design parameters which enable $90^{\circ}$ wall-to-wall transition and driving over projected obstacles on wall surfaces. A Prototype is manufactured using the transformable track on which polymer magnets are installed for adhesion force. The size of the prototype is $628mm{\times}200mm{\times}150mm$ ($Length{\times}Width{\times}Height$) and weight is 4kgf. Experiments are performed to verify its climbing capability focusing on $90^{\circ}$ wall to wall transition and driving over projected obstacle.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Precision Engineering Conference
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• 2010.05a
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• pp.1219-1220
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• 2010

• Special Issue of the Society of Naval Architects of Korea
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• 2006.09a
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• pp.112-121
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• 2006

The vertical displacement of a ship on the basis of the sea level is an important parameter for its stability and control. To indicate the displacement on operating conditions, "draft marks" are carved on the hull of the ship in various ways. One of the methods is welding. The position, shape and size of the marks are specified on the shipbuilding rules by classification societies to be checked by shipbuilders. In most cases, high-skilled workers do the welding along the drawing for the marks and welding bead becomes the marks. But the inaccuracies due to human errors and high labor cost increase the needs for automating the work process of the draft marks. In the preceding work, an indoor robot was developed for automatic marking system on flat surfaces and the work proved that the robot welding was more effective and accurate than manual welding. However, many parts of the hull structure constructed at the outdoor are cowed shapes, which is beyond the capability of the robot developed for the indoor works on the flat surface. The marking on the curved steel surface requiring the 25m elevations is one of the main challenges to the conventional robots. In the present paper, the robot capable of climbing vertical curved steel surfaces and performing the welding at the marked position by effectively solving the problems mentioned earlier is presented.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.12 no.12
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• pp.5450-5456
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• 2011

In order to build a ship, painting on ship cargo tank is one of the most dangerous parts as it involves working in high altitudes and a closed ship cargo tank. Therefore, researchers have been developing devices that will enable mobile robots to operate on vertical walls. The wall-climbing robots have been widely used to attach on the wall such as suction types. These types can be utilized regardless of the wall material. However, it is required to adhere and control the suction cups. To moderate this drawbacks, this paper proposes an automatic painting robot that uses a permanent magnet mobile robot. Using the magnetic characteristics, this robot can move on the boat vertically and horizontally even while hanging on the ceiling of the ship cargo tank. Also, we made a prototype to test adhesive force of the permanent magnet wheel and mobile robot as well as the towing capacity and auto-piloting ability.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Manufacturing Technology Engineers
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.374-379
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• 2014

Mobile robots with omni-directional wheels can generate instant omni-directional motion without requiring extra space to change the direction of the body. Therefore, they are capable of moving in an arbitrary direction under any orientation even in narrow aisles or tight areas. In this research, an omni-directional mobile robot based on Mecanum wheels was developed to achieve omni-directionality. A CompactRIO embedded real-time controller and C series motion and I/O modules were employed in the control system design. Ultrasonic sensors installed on the front and lateral sides were utilized to measure the distance between the mobile robot and the side wall of a workspace. Through intensive experiments, a performance evaluation of the mobile robot was conducted to confirm its feasibility for industrial purposes. Mobility, omni-directionality, climbing capacity, and tracking performance of a squared trajectory were selected as performance indices to assess the omni-directional mobile robot.

• Journal of Institute of Control, Robotics and Systems
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.193-200
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• 2012

Mobility is one of the most important issues for search and rescue robots. To increase mobility for small size robot we have focused on the mechanism and algorithm inspired from centipede. In spite of small size, using many legs and flexible long body, centipede can overcome high obstacles and move in rough terrains stably. This research focused on those points and imitated their legs and body that are good for obstacle negotiation. Based on similarity of a centipede's legs and tracks, serially connected tracks are used for climbing obstacles higher than the robot's height. And a centipede perceives environments using antennae on its head instead of eyes. Inspired from that, 3 IR sensors are attached on the front, top and bottom of the first module to imitate the antenna. Using the information gotten from the sensors, the robot decides next behavior automatically. In experiments, the robot can climb up to 45 cm height vertical wall and it is 600 % of the robot's height and 58 % of the robot's length.