Abstract
In this research, a pipe inspection robot adaptive to pipe diameter was developed. Using the sinusoidal wave drive, the robot forms sinusoidal waves and obtains moving force by gripping pipe walls. The robot consists of thirteen intelligent actuators. Each intelligent actuator is composed of a DC motor and a micro servo circuit and a pair of bevel gears. It leads to decreasing the number of the wirings, high performances achieved by distributed processing and high tolerance for electrical noises. In this paper, a new servo circuit for higher control performances and a rotational mechanism for control the robot's posture are shown. On the new micro servo circuit, a PSoC (Programmable System on Chip) and a motor driver are mounted. The mechanism rotates around the pipe axis. The robot can propel itself in three dimensional pipes. The results show the potential of this system.
