Long-mover: 配管内の長距離移動を目指した柔軟チューブ型ロボット

―第3報：分岐管での方向操舵―

抄録

This paper presents a new method to advance and to carry wired sensors like a camera or washing hose inside narrow and curving pipelines, which is aimed at inspecting and cleaning inside the pipelines. To fulfill this request, two improvements were added to the conventional robot "adapting to different-diameter piping" and "making direction steering with a branch pipe" possible. In order to ascertain the effectiveness of the proposed method, we conducted a propulsion experiment in a pipe imitating the actual environment with an improved robot, realized stable forward and backward movement and direction steering while checking the camera image at the head.