Development of In-Pipe Mobile Robot Using Pneumatic Soft-Actuator

抄録

In this paper, soft-actuators are developed, which are made of a silicon rubber and are driven with a pneumatic power. The silicon rubber has a flexibility, and the pneumatic power has a compressibility. Using these characteristics, soft-actuators can be realized. A rubber can be molded in some shapes and designs, and rubber actuators can move in extending and bending.
An in-pipe mobil, robot is composed of two holding actuators and a traveling actuator. The robot is fixed by holding actuators on both sides, a traveling actuator is equipped between holding actuators. The influence of the tube length (from servo valve to robot) is compensated by an improved control system. The compensator comprises of expresses the transfer function which is identified characteristics of the robot. Owing to the softness of the actuator and the pneumatic compliance, the robot can travel in an arbitrary shape pipe, such as a circle or a non-circle. The validity of this robot is confirmed through some experiments.