A working quadruped robot with magnetized feet that can climb on the walls and ceilings of metal buildings and structures has been created by a team of researchers from the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology in collaboration with a colleague from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Seungwoo Hong, Yong Um, Hae-Won Park, and Jaejun Park discuss their robot and how well it performed when put to the test in an article that was published in the journal Science Robotics.
Engineers discover more applications for robots as the technology used to create their advances.
The goal of this new project was to create a robot that could help with maintenance tasks on massive metal structures including buildings, oil tanks, and bridges.
They created a four-legged robot that could traverse a flat area, move toward a wall and climb straight up its side like a spider, and if necessary, continue over the ceiling.
Both magnetic elastomers and electromagnets are used by the robot. They work together to provide on-demand magnetization and demagnetization of the robot feet.
The robot can have one foot cling to a vertical place on a wall and hold on while the other feet adhere by switching the magnetism on and off, and then let go with one foot at a moment to take steps.
The robot needed to be programmed such that it could first start climbing and then go around or over obstacles.
They did this by simulating the way a cat would initially test the ground with its front paws before adding the motion of its back paws.
Testing revealed that the robot was capable of traversing ceilings and climbing metal walls.
Additional testing revealed that the robot could ascend a rusted-orange outdoor storage tank.
In addition to climbing the tank, it was also able to go past barriers and climb over non-metal surfaces.
Additionally, it was discovered to be able to transport a burden of up to 3kg. Depending on the terrain, it moves at varying rates, reaching a top speed of 0.7/ms.
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