Development of Pneumatic Drive Pipe Inspection Robot using Radial Bending Type Soft Actuator

Abstract

In this paper, for the purpose of developing a pipe inspection robot that can catch pipes whose diameter has changed due to rust generated inside, the pipe holding mechanism that can flexibly catch various size of pipes was prototyped. A novel pipe holding mechanism using three extension type flexible pneumatic actuators (EFPAs) that holds the pipe while bending radially was proposed and tested. Also, the holding characteristics for various pipes of the tested mechanism was investigated. Furthermore, the inchworm-type robot using the tested holding mechanism was also proposed and tested. As a result, it could be confirmed that the robot could travel on the straight pipes and complicated pipes that consists of different pipes. In addition, a novel propulsion mechanism using only two holding mechanisms was also proposed and tested. It was also confirmed that a speed of 4.5 mm/s was obtained and that it could travel in a curved pipe.