Cargando…

Soft-Tentacle Gripper for Pipe Crawling to Inspect Industrial Facilities Using UAVs

This paper presents a crawling mechanism using a soft-tentacle gripper integrated into an unmanned aerial vehicle for pipe inspection in industrial environments. The objective was to allow the aerial robot to perch and crawl along the pipe, minimizing the energy consumption, and allowing to perform...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Garcia Rubiales, F. Javier, Ramon Soria, Pablo, Arrue, Begoña C., Ollero, Anibal
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8235753/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34208723
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/s21124142
Descripción
Sumario:This paper presents a crawling mechanism using a soft-tentacle gripper integrated into an unmanned aerial vehicle for pipe inspection in industrial environments. The objective was to allow the aerial robot to perch and crawl along the pipe, minimizing the energy consumption, and allowing to perform contact inspection. This paper introduces the design of the soft limbs of the gripper and also the internal mechanism that allows movement along pipes. Several tests have been carried out to ensure the grasping capability on the pipe and the performance and reliability of the developed system. This paper shows the complete development of the system using additive manufacturing techniques and includes the results of experiments performed in realistic environments.