Automation and Robotics

Climbing capability is a characteristic that robotic researchers have been intensely pursuing in the last decade for climbing robots. Emphasis has been on minimizing energy expenditure, increasing payload and traversing diff erent wall materials. Using the Bernoulli principle as inspiration, important principles are revealed for reliable maneuvering on vertical structures. An experimental identifi cation of a model for a Bernoulli principle-based holding force is described. To quantitatively evaluate requirements of a Bernoulli pad to achieve attachment on a wall, this paper presents the force analysis and conducts experimental verifi cation for a commercially available Bernoulli pad. By designing and using a test bed, optimal holding force that ensures complete attachment of the pad is defi ned and experimentally verifi ed. Factors that infl uence the holding force such as fl uid media, frictional force, robot state, air speed, height of pad from surface and density variations are experimentally investigated and their causes and eff ects are established. Th e methods proposed in this study are valuable in guiding the design of pneumatics-based adhesion devices such as wall-climbing robots. Th e results from the experiments would then lead to the design of an adaptive force which would enable diff erent fl uid media to be used therefore increasing the versatility of the adhesion system. Th ey would also enable optimization of the Bernoulli principle therefore increasing holding force and payload. Th e cause and eff ect of these parameters were confi rmed through fi nite element analysis using ANSYS and simulation using Matlab.