Wall Climbing Robot Using Thrusters/Propellers

Abstract

This report reviews the designing and modeling of a hybrid-actuated robot which is able to climb vertically on a wall. It utilizes friction force produced by the wheels as well as the normal force generated by the propellers to climb on the wall. Thus, it is a hybrid-actuated system. The robot is mainly focused on the inspection of those areas where human reach is not possible or is costly or the environment is harsh for the humans. There is a window left for the modification of robot so that it could be deployed for a certain task after modifying it accordingly. This is possible only due to the thought process went into the flexible designing of this robot. The robot is controlled externally by a joystick controller, but path follower mechanism can be employed to make it autonomous. The formation of feedback control is possible by the use of sensors which continuously sense the environment and give feedback data to the controller. A novel method of steering is deployed here. The steering of this robot is mainly done by the propellers utilizing the Propeller Walk effect. A pair of right and left-handed propellers is used to achieve this task. In addition to the adhesion provided by the propellers, the steering is also made possible from these propellers hence the feedback system is developed with less of a hassle.