A novel miniature modular wire inspection robot with multiple locomotion modes

To carry out automatic line inspection, a novel modular miniature wire inspection robot with multiple locomotion modes, called MiniWirebot, has been developed. Developed by modular method, the robot consists of six joint modules, two grippers and three wheels assembled into four legs symmetrically. Two opposite 2-DoFs legs with gripper modules at the ends are utilized for climbing, while other two 1-DoF legs are equipped with wheel modules for rolling locomotion. With this configuration, MiniWirebot achieves outstanding mobilities including rolling on the floor or along a line, climbing poles or lines, transiting among the floor, poles and lines, and so on. In this paper, we present the development, show the prototype and illustrate the multiple locomotion of MiniWirebot. Inspiration and motivation of the development of the robotic system are introduced first, followed by the analysis of grasping force to ensure climbing safety and the inspection procedure. A series of experiments are conducted to verify the feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed miniature robot and the analysis.