Control of a wall-climbing robot using propulsive force of propeller

A wall-climbing robot with propellers has been developed for the purposes of rescue, fire-fighting and so on. The thrust force is inclined a little towards the wall to produce a frictional force between the wheels and the wall surface. A long body with many wheels is considered for use on an irregular wall surface. Strong turbulent winds blow around the walls of high-rise buildings, so the characteristics of a model building were measured in a wind tunnel. Higher wind velocity is found at the front, and higher turbulent characteristics at the rear. A robot controller is tested by computer simulation for an abrupt change of wind speed and direction, and it is shown clearly that safe locomotion in a fast turbulent wind can be attained.<<ETX>>