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Omnidirectional locomotion and traction control of the wheel-driven, wall-climbing robot, Cromsci

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 April 2011

D. Schmidt ,
C. Hillenbrand  and
K. Berns
D. Schmidt*
Affiliation:
Robotics Research Lab, University of Kaiserslautern, Kaiserslautern, Germany
C. Hillenbrand
Affiliation:
Robotics Research Lab, University of Kaiserslautern, Kaiserslautern, Germany
K. Berns
Affiliation:
Robotics Research Lab, University of Kaiserslautern, Kaiserslautern, Germany
*
*Corresponding author. E-mail: dschmidt@cs.uni-kl.de
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Summary

Safe and cost-efficient inspection of large concrete buildings is a great challenge for mobile robots. This paper presents the locomotion system of the climbing robot, Cromsci, which uses three steerable standard wheels and negative pressure adhesion. We will introduce criteria to avoid robot slip and tilt, and methods to enhance stability. One elementary part is the close-loop-controlled adhesion system with seven individual negative pressure chambers to balance out tilt or dynamic effects caused by leaky pressure chambers. The second part is the locomotion control using a special traction control mechanism to enhance robot navigation, which will also be presented here.

Keywords

Control of robotic systemsForce controlMobile robotsService robotsNovel applications of robotics
Type
Articles
Information
Robotica , Volume 29 , Issue 7 , December 2011 , pp. 991 - 1003
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2011

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