Robot for Inspection of Transmission Lines

—Electrical and Mechanical Development—

Abstract

Preventive maintenance of high-voltage transmission power lines is a demanding task, but the obstacles mounted on the lines have so far prevented the automation of this task. Expliner aims to overcome such obstacles by controlling actively the position of its center of mass, thus changing its configuration as needed when moving on the power lines. This work presents the concept of Expliner, its electrical design and results of field experiments performed with very high voltages.