Development of Pneumatic Driven In-Pipe Robot Which Can Locomote in Deep Part of Gas Piping

Abstract

To inspect the inside of a gas pipe without excavation, we developed a pneumatic driven in-pipe robot that can locomote in deep part of gas piping. When the robot tries to enter the deep part of the gas line, the tension of the air supply tube increases, and the robot cannot locomote. To solve this problem, we developed an elastic flexible actuator that has a strong traction force. We strengthened the traction force to 54[N] by using a reverse winding mesh spring suppressing the rotational movement of the robot. In an evaluation experiment, we confirmed that the robot could locomote at a depth of 50[m] in the gas piping.