Host: The Japan Society of Mechanical Engineers
Name : [in Japanese]
Date : June 08, 2016 - June 11, 2016
The body of an airplane is regularly inspected for metal fatigue. However, the inspection process is conducted manually. Manual inspection involves some problems related to the accuracy of the inspection and safety of inspectors. Therefore, automated inspections by wall-climbing robots are expected to replace the process of manual inspection. Previously, we developed a traveling-wave-type omnidirectional mobile robot using the locomotion mechanism of a snail. This robot can travel omnidirectionally and achieve stable movement by maintaining large surface contact area. Safety airplane inspection robots are realized if this robot is installed with a negative pressure suction mechanism. In this paper, we explain the concept of wall-climbing robot for inspection of airplanes and conduct experiments to obtain characteristics of the negative pressure suction mechanism.
