DEVELOPMENT OF AN OMNIDIRECTIONAL WALL-CLIMBING ROBOT BY USING TRAVELING WAVE PROPAGATION

A wall-climbing robot can access high places and approach disaster sites that a human cannot. In this study, an effective omnidirectional wall-climbing robot is developed using the locomotion mechanism of snails. A snail moves by generating travelling waves with its muscle elasticity and propagating the wave in the direction of movement. Since this locomotion mechanism is in contact with a large ground area, it is extremely stable. This is advantageous for climbing unstable walls. The proposed robot uses a locomotion mechanism that consists of several slider cranks for locomotion and a centrifugal fan to adhere to the wall by suction. The robot can be moved from the floor to a wall to the ceiling using these two locomotion mechanisms. In addition, the robot moves omnidirectionally by rotating the locomotion mechanism. We confirmed the robot's abilities on various walls. The experiment results showed good performance.