Design and implementation of the wheel-clamping stay cable inspection robot

A new wheel-clamping type inspection robot for bridge stay cables was designed. Its clamping mechanism adopts a four-auxiliary-two-drive wheel clamping scheme, and the driving unit utilizes a single motor with double output shaft. A simple automatic control system of the robot was designed based on Arduino. Then, the diameter range of the stay cable that the robot can hold was calculated. The mechanical model of the robot under clamping condition was established. The curves for the minimum thrust Fe and driving force F required by the robot under different stay cable diameters Φ and inclined angles γ were obtained through Matlab data processing. Based on Adams dynamic simulation, the appropriate shape and material of the wheel, the optimal position of the centroid distribution and how to improve the wind resistance of the wheel were determined. Finally, a prototype robot was developed and a climbing experiment was carried out. The results show that the inspection robot is easy to clamp, simple to operate and control, and the detection speed is 0–5 m/min. The robot can grab stay cables with diameters ranging from 70 to 245 mm and can be used for stay cables with angles ranging from 0° to 90°.