Control system design of duct cleaning robot capable of overcoming L and T-shaped ducts

Abstract

This study introduces the control method of duct cleaning robot that enables real-time position tracking and self-driving over L-shaped and T-shaped duct sections. The developed robot has three legs and is designed to flexibly respond to duct sizes. The position of the robot inside the duct is identified using the UWB communication module and the location estimation algorithm. Although UWB communication has relatively large distance error within the metal, the positional error was reduced by introducing appropriate filters to estimate the robot position accurately.  TCP/IP communication allows commands to be sent between the PC and the robot and to receive live images of the camera attached to the robot. Using Haar-like and classifiers, the robot can recognize the type of duct that is difficult to overcome, such as L-shaped and T-shaped duct, and it moves successfully inside the duct according to the corresponding moving algorithms.