In order to enable to maintain pipe lines laying underground in metropolitans, inpipe inspection robots which can run in a small pipe less than 25mm in diameter in long distance longer than 20m are strongly required. For this purpose, we have proposed a new inpipe mobile robot based on 'Screw Principle'. The robot can be driven only by turning its body with a flexible wire connecting to the outside of the pipe. Several prototypes can run through a small pipe with 25mm in diameter, a bending pipe or stepped pipe.
*We have collaborated with Kansei Kogyo Co. Ltd. for this research.
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