Abstract
A newly designed diagnostic robot, Mark II, basically consisting of three modules with a joint between modules has capabilities of straight and spiral movement along the outside of pipelines, and of freely passing over obstacles, such as flanges, T-joints and other plant equipment by sensing and recognizing obstacles in front of it, and controlling its attitude automatically. By calculating the position and orientation of the robot using a transformation matrix, a control method of maneuverability in the passing of T-joints is shown. A method of compensating for the torque with occurs by, gravitation -al force is applied for each module independently to keep the holding torque constant, which leads to less vibrations in movement and hence yields better diagnostic results. The Mark II equiped with diagnosis sensors can identify the location and depth of flaws on the surface by inspecting pipelines in the spiral moving mode along the pipelines. The Mark II also has intelligent abilities, such as routing the most efficient path for inspection in plants, provided a plant map is given.
