T-branch Travel of a Multi-link Articulated Wheeled In-pipe Robot using Only a Single Active Joint

-2nd Report: Joint Angle and Torque Measurement Performance depending on Angle Sensor Arrangement-

Abstract

The demand for robotic inspection of aging pipelines is increasing. Among the existing in-pipe robots, T-branch travel has been the hardest challenge. This is because it is necessary to install more actuators to select the pathway, that leads to a complicated structure and an increase in size. To solve this problem, we have developed the in-pipe robot AIRo-5.1 that can pass though T-branches with only a single series elastic active joint. This manuscript describes AIRo-5.2, in which the potentiometer arrangement was changed to solve the wiring problem of the AIRo-5.1. From the experiments, it was found that the AIRo-5.2, as well as the AIRo-5.1, can adapt to all T-branches in different directions, and the wire breakage was solved.