A novel bio-inspired soft pipeline robot with variable stiffness for navigating inside complex pipelines

IF 4.9 3区工程技术 Q2 ENGINEERING, ELECTRICAL & ELECTRONIC

Sensors and Actuators A-physical Pub Date : 2025-09-15 DOI:10.1016/j.sna.2025.117062

Yujia Li , Tao Ren , Yingying Su , Weiye Zhuang , Yu Xia , Yonghua Chen , Simon X. Yang

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

Oil and gas pipelines transport highly flammable and explosive substances, making leaks potentially catastrophic. Regular inspections are therefore critical to prevent such incidents. Pipeline robots provide a safer and more efficient alternative to human inspectors, especially in hazardous and monotonous environments. However, conventional rigid pipeline robots face significant challenges in navigating complex, small- to medium-diameter pipelines, particularly those carrying dangerous substances, due to their limited flexibility and adaptability. To overcome these limitations, soft pipeline robots have emerged as a promising solution, leveraging their inherent flexibility and adaptability to such conditions. Nevertheless, the high compliance of existing soft robots often results in difficulties maintaining posture, especially when navigating branches in intricate pipeline systems. Inspired by the inchworm’s locomotion, this study introduces two types of variable-stiffness soft actuators and a soft pipeline robot designed to traverse complex, small- to medium-diameter pipelines. These innovations address the challenges faced by existing soft robots in such environments. The variable-stiffness characteristics of the actuators are thoroughly analyzed, and precise motion control strategies are developed to enhance the robot’s performance in complex pipeline navigation. Extensive testing of the robot prototype was conducted to evaluate its stiffness and motion capabilities in challenging pipeline scenarios. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed variable-stiffness soft pipeline robot significantly outperforms existing models in adaptability to complex pipelines, branch-crossing ability, and transitioning from smooth surfaces into pipes. The developed soft actuators and robots hold broad potential for applications such as oil and gas pipeline inspections, chemical vessel inspections, and medical endoscopy.

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一种用于复杂管道内导航的柔性变刚度仿生管道机器人

石油和天然气管道运输高度易燃易爆的物质，造成泄漏可能是灾难性的。因此，定期检查对于防止此类事件至关重要。管道机器人为人类检查员提供了更安全、更有效的替代方案，特别是在危险和单调的环境中。然而，传统的刚性管道机器人由于其有限的灵活性和适应性，在导航复杂的、中小直径的管道，特别是运输危险物质的管道方面面临着重大挑战。为了克服这些限制，软管道机器人已经成为一种很有前途的解决方案，利用它们固有的灵活性和对这种条件的适应性。然而，现有软体机器人的高顺应性往往导致难以保持姿势，特别是在复杂的管道系统中导航分支时。受尺蠖运动的启发，本研究引入了两种类型的变刚度软执行器和一种软管道机器人，设计用于穿越复杂的中小直径管道。这些创新解决了现有软机器人在这种环境中面临的挑战。深入分析了执行机构的变刚度特性，制定了精确的运动控制策略，以提高机器人在复杂管道导航中的性能。对机器人原型进行了广泛的测试，以评估其在具有挑战性的管道场景中的刚度和运动能力。实验结果表明，所提出的变刚度柔性管道机器人在复杂管道的适应性、分支穿越能力以及从光滑表面过渡到管道的能力等方面明显优于现有模型。开发的软执行器和机器人在石油和天然气管道检查，化学容器检查和医疗内窥镜检查等应用中具有广泛的潜力。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Sensors and Actuators A-physical 工程技术-工程：电子与电气

CiteScore

8.10

自引率

6.50%

发文量

630

审稿时长

49 days

期刊介绍： Sensors and Actuators A: Physical brings together multidisciplinary interests in one journal entirely devoted to disseminating information on all aspects of research and development of solid-state devices for transducing physical signals. Sensors and Actuators A: Physical regularly publishes original papers, letters to the Editors and from time to time invited review articles within the following device areas: • Fundamentals and Physics, such as: classification of effects, physical effects, measurement theory, modelling of sensors, measurement standards, measurement errors, units and constants, time and frequency measurement. Modeling papers should bring new modeling techniques to the field and be supported by experimental results. • Materials and their Processing, such as: piezoelectric materials, polymers, metal oxides, III-V and II-VI semiconductors, thick and thin films, optical glass fibres, amorphous, polycrystalline and monocrystalline silicon. • Optoelectronic sensors, such as: photovoltaic diodes, photoconductors, photodiodes, phototransistors, positron-sensitive photodetectors, optoisolators, photodiode arrays, charge-coupled devices, light-emitting diodes, injection lasers and liquid-crystal displays. • Mechanical sensors, such as: metallic, thin-film and semiconductor strain gauges, diffused silicon pressure sensors, silicon accelerometers, solid-state displacement transducers, piezo junction devices, piezoelectric field-effect transducers (PiFETs), tunnel-diode strain sensors, surface acoustic wave devices, silicon micromechanical switches, solid-state flow meters and electronic flow controllers. Etc...