Question:
Discuss about the Electrically Controllable Adhesion Technology.
In the modern day of science and technology, the applications of robots continue to expand every day, so as to make work for humans easier. The robot mobility capability being used in this project is aimed at improving the window and wall cleaning procedures which could sometimes involve the hazard of falling from high buildings from the risk of one reason or another. The risks that could lead to this falls in the conventional method used in wall and window cleaning procedures include faulty equipment and insecure installations of support which could occur at any time. These risks and hazards are also felt in the part of workers of in nuclear reactor plants who also need to assess the conditions of the extremely high reactor tanks Thus the introduction of wall climbing robots to serve this purpose for humans would be a beneficial invention that would allow people to utilize the benefits of science and technology while still mitigating the risks that window and wall cleaners in different parts of the world face on a daily basis.
There are a number of trials that have been done on the design of wall climbing robots that utilize a wheel and a suction mechanism and the technologies are still being studied by many scientists and designers in the field of mechanical and robotic engineering. The theoretical framework that will be utilizes in the design of this wall climbing robot will entail the installation of a wheel that will be usable on flat surfaces and suction pads that provide the suction force required to resist gravity and climb walls (Chu, Jung, Han, & Hong , 2010). The suction pads will achieve this force optimizing and maximizing the vacuum pressure in these suction pads using the Taguchi method, and this will allow the robot to have mobility even against gravity and on to walls. Research has shown the use of Taguchi method to maximize and optimize the vacuum pressure of the suction pads allowing for movement. The project is aimed at finding an effective way that can promote the mobility of robots to increase their applicability to certain tasks that man needs to undertake but cannot for one reason or another. This will be achieved by giving the robot both locomotion and adhesion to overcome gravity management and climb walls to different heights without risking the lives of any humans. It also aims to establish the goals of finding out the parameters of dimensions, weights and pressures, for a wall climbing to be operational for the different purposes this mobility design is going to introduce. In addition to the methodology of suction and locomotion for mobility of the robot up the walls, the robot’s efficiency can also be improved by making it climb ferromagnetic surface walls which will be aided by a set of interlocking magnets beneath the robot (Fischer, Tache, & Siegwart, 2007). The interlocking mechanism and the magnetic combination will guarantee the robot stability since its mobility is based on how well it can handle the wheel locomotion together with the legged and the suction mobility. This network of mobility technology will assure the robot of stability even when it is moving over surfaces that are not level.
This proposal also entails a literature review of how the proposed solution will work to improve the mobility and the applicability of robots for different purposes. It shows the findings and recommendations of other designers in mechanical engineering robotics who have also attempted to design the perfect robot using different mechanisms for climbing walls. The theoretical framework of the design and why it is a feasible solution have also been detailed in this proposal. There are also details of the experimental part detailed in the project proposal, so as to simplify the complexities of the mechanics required to ensure that the project design exhibits the expected properties of the design as is expected by the calculations and simulations. Finally, details of the plan of the project as well as the timelines for the presentation of the expected deliverables are also presented towards the end of this report.
The need for a better type of mobility for robots is of the essence in the modern world of ever changing technologies, as the level of risks and effort people are expected to put into work continues to reduce immensely. These mobility challenges continue to encourage engineers to design more and more mobility systems for robots that will help them figure out more and more ways robots can be used to make work easier. In this project, the sliding locomotion method was used together with the legged mechanism for purposes of controlling the speed of the robot, which should always be a low speed because the unleveled surfaces always require discontinuous slow motion. (Kim, et al., 2008)suggests that a tracking wheel should also be incorporated in this design to promote better movements during continuous faster motions of the robot on level surfaces. This tracking wheel will be designed to work with a chain track that is connected to the suction pads that are responsible for the climbing movement. A solenoid valve and the magnetic component management of the locomotion mechanism will come in tie control the suction pressure from these suction pads. The strength of the magnetic forces and suction motion can be determined from the size of the solenoid, which includes dimensions of 370mm in width and 720mm in length.
In this specific project, the design consideration is that the robot will aim to handle the climbing motion as a continuous motion for the simulation purposes. The literature reviews has shown that the function of mobility will have a higher speed of climbing because of all the adaptations mounted on this design, including the series of chains that are mounted beneath the robot on its tracked wheels. (Kim, et al., 2008) recommends a design that will also entail about 24 suction pads for the generation of the suction force the robot will use for its mechanical wave motion during climbing.
The structure of the design of this robot is also factored in to the engineering design proposal, where the structure is focused on ensuring the forces that allow the movement of the robot are considered. Engineering design property assessment tests need to be conducted to ensure that the appropriate suction force is received on each suction pad, to prevent the falling of the robot. This will help in maintaining pressure within the suction locomotion mechanism will give the robot stability (Lee, Kim, Kang, Kim, & Kwak, 2003) recommends the testing of experimental data to establish the mechanical properties and the pressure distributions. Comparisons also ought to be made concerning the speeds of the robots to climb walls of set heights and the payloads of the robot (Lee, Kim, Kang, Kim, & Kwak, 2003). Information about the relationships between the maximization of pressures and the climbing performance of the record vacuums should also be established using the Taguchi method. This will serve the purpose of giving the robot stability in motion through minimizing any variations in the suction force of the suction pads.
The aim of this project is to design a robot that incorporates a number of locomotive mechanisms to achieve mobility on unleveled and leveled surfaces, as well as climbing walls. In so doing the mainframe locomotive systems will achieve a more efficient way to manage the tracking wheel whose role in the design is to control the vacuum suction procedures using the actuation modules (Lee, Kim, Kang, Kim, & Kwak, 2003)
The design will entail the combination of the individual parts that make up the basic parts of a wall climbing robot using a tracked wheel mechanism which entails the frame of the robot and the tracked wheel component. The mainframe will entail a vacuum pump for suction, and a control module to actuate and drive the robot prototype, as well as the power supply to drive the prototype. The tracked wheel mechanism system, on the other hand, will entail a pulley and a timing belt to provide motion for the prototype. The suction pads and their valves will then be installed on the timing belt to provide air suction. The prototype will also need to consider how the prototype will achieve rotary motion through rotary joints to prevent any torsional and twisting stresses on the pneumatic tubes controlling this air suction motion. It also ought to be controlled wirelessly especially in changing direction, starting and stopping the motion of the prototype, as well as decelerating and accelerating. This would be made possible through the incorporation of the micro-controller and Bluetooth protocol to control the motor sand power supply.
The experiment entailed comparing the speed of the robot during climbing for a given set of conditions so as to establish the mechanical properties of the motion of the robot.
The finding was that the movement of the tracking wheel is based on that of the suction pads such that it is also dictated by the wheel rotation as well as the mechanical operations of the suction valves in the solenoid (Menon, Murphy, & Sitti, 2004)The operation of tracked wheel system was also found to have the role is managing the mechanism that is related to the rotation of the wheel. The role only the driving motor plays is to change the speed and direction of locomotion. This operation is related to the track wheel locomotion mechanism which thus involves the action of the wheels prompting movement. Comparison of the results of speed comparisons during continuous motion show that using both the sliding and legged mechanisms of motion improve the speed and the stability of the robot (Prahlad, Pelrine, Stanford, Marlow, & Kornbluh, 2008).
The impact of the magnetic properties were also established by this experiment as the valve on the solenoid controls the pressures between the vacuum pump and the suction pad as is seen in the free flow curve (Seo & Sitti, 2011). This curve can be explained by the fact that the anti-gravity movement of the robot either up or down the wall is determined by suction force and its ability to handle the weight of the robot. The ability of any robot to manage any variations in the suction force in the suction pads translates into its ability to achieve the pressure of the vacuum required for sustaining the weight of the robot against the force of gravity. The system is designed to have all the 24 suction pads connected to the vacuum pump to allow it the required suction force to maintain the weight of the robot (Seo & Sitti, 2011). The role of the mechanical valve was also found to give the robot stability when the form of locomotion changes from suction to the wheel system (Yang, et al., 1999). The pressure to hold the suction pads in a stable condition is also determined by the flowrate in the vacuum pump of the suction locomotion mechanism as is demonstrated by the relationships between the climbing speed of the robot and the volume flowrate of the vacuum pump (Xu & Ma, 2002).
The Taguchi method was also used to conduct an optimization of pressures experiment so as to design the time dependent factors and the classified systems. This method is efficient for determining the best quality of the locomotion system placed on the robot, and the control levels of the robot. The method could also be helpful in determining the parameters for the operation of the robot and also to minimize the functions of noise and pressure fluctuation during the experiment.
Conclusion
The main aim of this project was to maximize and optimize the pressure in the suction pad of a climbing wall robot locomotion mechanism while managing the variations in time and pressure releases of the robot. The control factors that were analyzed include diameter of the pneumatic tubes from the suction pads to the vacuum pump, with the configurations of the air tunnels and the profile cam used in the mechanical valve of the robot. This was achieved through varying the parameters through fine-tuning the vacuum and the other control on the robot (Silva, Machado, & Tar, 2008). The findings showed that the robots use the track wheeled mechanism in continuous motion such that the speed of the climb is high. The suction pads play a vital role in achieving the stable and fast continuous motion.
References
Chu, B., Jung, K., Han, C. S., & Hong , D. (2010). A survey of climbing robots: Locomotion and Adhesion. International Journal of Presicion Engineering and Manufacturing, 11(4), 633-647.
Fischer, W., Tache, F., & Siegwart, R. (2007). Inspection system for very thin and free surfaces based on a pair of wall climbing robots with magnetic wheels. Intelligent robots and systems, 1216-1221.
Kim, H., Kim, D., Yang, H., Lee, K., Seo, K., Chang, D., & Kim, J. (2008). Developing of a wall robot using a tracked wheel mechanisim. Journal of mechanical science and technology, 22(8), 1491-1498.
Lee, C., Kim, S. H., Kang, S. C., Kim, M. S., & Kwak, Y. K. (2003). Double track robot for hazardous environmental applications. Advanced Robotics, 17(5), 447-459.
Menon, C., Murphy, M., & Sitti, M. (2004). Gecko inspired surface climbing robots. Robotics and Biomimetrics, 431-436.
Prahlad, H., Pelrine, R., Stanford, S., Marlow, J., & Kornbluh, R. (2008). Electroadhesive climbing robots enabled by a novel, robust, electrically controllable adhesion technology. Robotics and automation, 3028-3033.
Seo, T., & Sitti, M. (2011). Under actuated tank-like climbing robot with various transitioning capabilities. Robotics and automation, 777-782.
Silva, M., Machado, J. T., & Tar, J. K. (2008). A survey of technologies for climbing robots adhesion to surfaces. Computational Cybernetics, 127-132.
Xu, Z., & Ma, P. (2002). A wall-climbing robotfor labeling scale of oiltanks volume. RObotics and Automation, 209-212.
Yang, W., Shuliang, L., Dianguo, X., Yangzhen, Z., Hao, S., & Xueshan, G. (1999). Development and application od wall climbing robots. Robotics and Automation, 2, 1207-1212.
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