Structural design and optimization of adaptive soft adhesion bionic climbing robot

Abstract

Soft-body climbing robots can automatically adapt to the external shape of the climbing surface, but their load-carrying capacity and output torque are insufficient. To address this problem, a bionic climbing robot that can adapt to different complex climbing surfaces as well as a high load-bearing capacity is designed. The proposed robot consists of three bionic crab-pincer gripping structures and two retractable torsos, and its gripping action is achieved by cable-driven. The mechanical models of the cable-driven and rotatable joints were established, and the relationship between motor input torque and end force was determined. The experimental results show that the climbing robot designed in this paper exhibits strong adaptivity on a variety of different materials and different shapes of climbing surfaces, and has strong climbing stability. Its maximum pipe climbing diameter is 290 mm, and the maximum load capacity is 10.5 kg.