Design and Prototyping a New Add-on Module to Increase Traction Force of a Wheeled Sewer Inspection Robot

Wheeled mobile robots have been a common apparatus of interior pipe inspection for many years. One of the major drawbacks of these systems is low traction force when traversing in special conditions, such as inclined pipes. Unanticipated area and obstacles along the robot path are the major challenges of the robot in the mission success. In this paper a novel add-on module is developed to increase the robot traction when encounters obstacles, paddle and large deposit, or when move in highly inclination pipes. The developed mechanism consists of two links mounted beside the robot and causes that to pass obstacles in the path. The links' angular position or the length may be changed using an actuator. A locking mechanism, may provide switching between the two active modes in the robot. The analysis and simulation results show the capability of the developed mechanism in increasing the robot traction force. Further, using the manufactured prototype, the functionality of the developed device as a separate add-on module was verified.