Development of collaborative system of multicopter and Unmanned-Ground-Vehicle for exploration of the high altitude area in the building (Foldable-Arm-Multicopter and Tethered-Landing-System)

Abstract

Since the accident at Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station in 2011, the robots for exploring the power station buildings have been working and developing. Each floor of the building has a high ceiling, and it is important to check the pipes near the ceiling. However, the existing robots used for exploring high places in the building have lift mechanisms attached to them and cannot climb stairs because of their heavy weight and little traveling performance. In this paper, we propose a system for exploring a high place of the upper floor by using Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), especially multicopters and UGVs as substitutes for the lift-type robots. In the power station building, robots go through passageways to explore, so the size of the robots is defined by the width of the passageway. On the other hand, the multicopter is more efficient and can carry heavier payload when it uses large propellers. Therefore, we have developed a multicopter whose arm can fold when on the UGV to decrease the width of the robot and automatically extend when it flies. Furthermore, we have developed a tether-winding helipad to land the multicopter automatically with high accuracy. Finally, we have tested and confirmed the availability of the proposed system with the UGV.