Development of a compact sewerage robot with multi-DOF cutting tool

Tugeumwolachot, Thaelasutt; Seki, Hiroaki; Tsuji, Tokuo; Hiramitsu, Tatsuhiro

doi:10.1007/s10015-021-00694-y

Cited by 3 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 16 publications

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“…In order to address these issues, various sewer robots have been developed over the past few decades. Nowadays, sewer robots are primarily categorized into wheeled [2,3], tracked [4,5], wall-pressed [6,7], snake [8,9], and multi-legged types [10]. Wheeled robots are widely used in pipeline inspections because of their simple mechanical structure and high control precision [11].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A toe-inspired rigid-flexible coupling wheel design method for improving the terrain adaptability of a sewer robot

Zhang,

Chen,

Shen

et al. 2024

Bioinspir. Biomim.

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The human toe, characterized by its rigid-flexible structure comprising hard bones and flexible joints, facilitates adaptive and stable movement across varied terrains. In this paper, we utilized a motion capture system to study the adaptive adjustments of toe joints when encountering obstacles. Inspired by the mechanics of toe joints, we proposed a novel design method for a rigid-flexible coupled wheel. The wheel comprises multiple elements: a rigid skeleton, supporting toes, connecting shafts, torsion springs, soft tendons, and damping pads. The torsion springs connect the rigid frame to the supporting toes, enabling them to adapt to uneven terrains and pipes with different diameters. The design was validated through kinematic and dynamic modeling, rigid-flexible coupled dynamics simulation, and stress analysis. Different stiffness coefficients of torsion springs were compared for optimal wheel design. Then, the wheel was applied to a sewer robot, and its performance was evaluated and compared with a pneumatic rubber tire in various experiments, including movement on flat surfaces, overcoming small obstacles, adaptability tests in different terrains, and active driving force tests in dry and wet pipelines. The results prove that the designed wheel showed better stability and anti-slip properties than conventional tires, making it suitable for diverse applications such as pipeline robots, desert vehicles, and lunar rovers.

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