NITJ-INDIA “CPIE-2007” 22-24 March

VERTICAL AND HORIZONTAL SURFACE TRAVERSING ROBOT:

DESIGN APPROACH

Anil E. Magare1, Nitesh P. Yelve1, Amit U. Kulkarni2, Amit P. Kudva2,

Dhananjay A. Ipparthi2

Lecturer1, Student2, Department of Mechanical Engineering

Fr.C.Rodrigues Institute of Technology, Vashi,
Navi Mumbai-400 703

Email address: anilmagare@rediffmail.com, niteshpy@yahoo.co.in,

amit_k_mech@yahoo.co.in, kudva_amit@yahoo.co.in, Ipparthi@gmail.com.

ABSTRACT: In the applications such as surveillance of sites, inspections of buildings,

nuclear vessels, etc. where sending human beings might be difficult and more importantly
dangerous, alternate solutions should be considered. Under these circumstances, wall
climbing robots, are proven to be the best solution. However most wall climbing robots that
exist today are robots that work on surface specific principles; as a result one robot can not
easily be used for more complex textured surfaces. Hence, an attempt is made to design a wall
climbing robot VHST (Vertical and Horizontal Surface Traverser) which is cheap and has
versatile wall traversing abilities. The objective of this robot would be ability to traverse over
various textures and have sufficient payload capacity, thereby rendering it more versatile. Its
working principle along with model created in I-DEAS software and its advantages over other
robots of its family are explained.

KEYWORDS: Wall climbing robot, VHST

1. ITRODUCTIO:

With the increase in the popularity of

nuclear programs [Luk], sophistication in
sleuth operations and desired automation
in inspection of buildings, planes etc. the
necessity of robots that traverse vertical
surfaces is felt. As a result various
institutions have put in their efforts to
develop such robots.

Gecko [Cepolina, 2003] and Stickybot are

robots that use small suction cups for
sticking to the wall. Also robots with
adhesive feet are widely proposed
[Menon, 2004].But these have limitations
of surface texture and are suitable for only
particular surfaces. Another problem is
that they employ reciprocating motion
which is less efficient, slow and has
complicated controls. During automation
the programming becomes tougher due to
the sheer complexity of the motion
involved.
Fig. 1 VRAM
VMRP(VRAM Mobile Robot Platform),
shown in Fig. 1, made by Vortex HC has
a very versatile design and is able to adapt
to a variety of surfaces ranging from
glazed surfaces like glass to concrete or
brick surfaces. The basic principle
involves creation of turbulence, with the
help of a motor-impeller arrangement, in
the form of a tornado within a donut. A

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low pressure is created due to it which
keeps the robot adhered to the wall. The
robot moves around with the help of
wheels. [www.vortexhc.com]
Bhabha Atomic Research Center (BARC)
has developed wall climbing robots in
India for the automatic inspection of their
nuclear reactors thus eliminating hazards
for humans. A pneumatically operated,
compact and modular Wall Climbing
Robot (WCR), with a pay load of 5 kg,
was developed for the inspection of large
vertical surfaces, in these hazardous
environments. [www.dae.gov.in]
2. BASIC PRICIPLE
The VRAM is the only robot which has
surface versatility along with the other
advantage of ease of motion. A similar
concept is applied for this wall climbing
robot, the VHST (Vertical and Horizontal
Surface Traverser). Thus the robot uses a
motor-impeller arrangement to produce
the adhesive force and a separate system
for translation.
The VRAM uses the concept of
recirculation of air where the same air is
recirculates in the cup. The suction force
depends on the difference between the
static and the dynamic pressure created as
a result of the forced vortex in the cup
Instead, in the VHST the concept of direct
suction (suck and throw) was used. The air
is sucked from the underbelly of the robot
and thrown out instead of recirculation.
The gap between the wall and the cup
would be virtually sealed by a soft
material film which conforms to the shape
of the wall in case of small irregularities
which helps maintain the drop in pressure.
2.1 Cup
Instead of allowing the air to be thrown
out from the side of the impeller directly,
the kinetic energy of the expelled air could
be harnessed to develop better adhesion
between the wall and the robot. For this
purpose the cup that encloses the impeller
would be shaped in the form of a frustum
which effects this action.
“CPIE-2007” 22-24 March
Fig. 2 Basic working of the frustum cup
In the VHST the air coming out from the
side of the impeller was isolated from the
air moving in. The impeller would suck in
the air from the underside of the robot.
The air coming out from the side of the
impeller would be guided upwards by a
frustum shaped cup, as shown in Fig 2.
The direction of the air is changed when it
hits the frustum shaped cup. This change
in direction or momentum of air exerts a
force on the cup. The force obtained
further assists the adhesion of the robot to
the wall.
2.2 Impeller
Another advantage of the direct suction
principle is that an impeller of decreasing
thickness (shown in Fig.3) can be used
which are known to have better properties.
The use of the same was tested with
recirculation and the adhesive force was
observed to decrease. This profile leads to
increase in average distance of the
impeller from the wall thus decreasing the
velocity of the air. Consequently the
difference in the static and dynamic
pressures decreases leading to lesser
adhesive force. This problem is not
observed in direct suction.
Fig. 3 Impeller of decreasing thickness
3. PARAPHERELIA
3.1 Stepper motors
For the translation of the robot four motors
were to be used for all the wheels for a
reliable drive. The motors were required to
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NITJ-INDIA “CPIE-2007” 22-24 March

have good torque to take the weight of the A computer generated model of the robot
robot, give variable speed according to the is shown in Fig. 4.
requirement of the surface and have low
weight and small size. Common DC
motors, due to the requirement of a gear
system for speed reduction for lower
speeds were found to be bulky. So instead
stepper motors were used as they easily
satisfied all the requirements mentioned
above.

3.2 Body
The body of the robot is of outmost
importance. It should be sufficiently rigid
to carry the load on the robot, withstand
the vibrations from the high speed motor
used for suction and not deform under
load. At the same time it should not add to
the weight of the robot unnecessarily. So
instead of a solid body a frame shaped
body would prove beneficial. It would also
provide for better cooling of the stepper
motors
3.3 Wheels
The wheels are wide based plastic wheels.
The wheel should be light yet sturdy.
Fig. 4 Computer generated model of
VHST (bottom view)
4. COTROL SYSTEM
To control the four stepper motors, in
terms of orientation as well as speed
control microcontrollers are employed.
The advantage of using microcontrollers is
that, at a later stage, it would be easier to
make the robot autonomous and make it
follow a fixed route if required. The basic
block diagram of the control system is
shown in Fig. 5.

Fig. 5 Block diagram of the control system circuitry

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The circuit consists of the following basic Table 1: Rotation of motors for various
parts: Motions of robot
Left Right
4.1 Rectifier Segment Segment
The input for the circuit is a 12V DC taken Forward Anti-clock Clock
from a rectifier. After further filtering, the
Backward Clock Anti-clock
microcontroller gets a voltage of 5 Volts
DC. The AC motor used for suction Right Anti-clock Anti-clock
however is powered independently from a Left Clock Clock
regular 230V AC power supply.

4.2 Microcontroller The stepper motor has four input wires

The microcontroller employed in the which determine its motion i.e. the
VHST is a Phillips 89C51RD2 direction of motion and the speed. Another
wire supplies the positive potential to the
4.3 I/O Ports motor maintained at 12V. The stepper
Of the four ports, one is used for output to motor is powered by a predetermined
the motors- four pins of the port are used sequence shown in Table 2.
for the right segment and four for the left.
For speed variation interrupts are to be Table 2: Stepper motor Sequence
used so that the speed variation can take Black Brown Orange Yellow Red
place even during the motion of the robot. 1 -- -- +
For this assigned interrupt pins P3.2 and 2 -- -- +
P3.3 are used. Four pins of another port 3 -- -- +
are connected to the direction inputs from 4 -- -- +
the console.
The console has 6 buttons. Of the six
4.4 Drivers buttons, four are used to give the direction
The motors run on 12 V DC; however the and two are used for varying the speed of
output of the microcontroller is 5V DC the robot.
hence for amplification of current the chip
ULN2003 is used. 6. CALCULATIOS:

RS232D cable is used to interface the 6.1 Suction force requirement

circuit to the computer and write the total weight = weight of the vehicle
program onto the microcontroller. to be carried + payload
= 2 kg
5. PROGRAMMIG Taking the coefficient of friction,
µ = 0.33
Programming of the microcontroller is
done using C language in the IDE friction force = µ × suction force
(Integrated Development Environment) Also,
Keil µVision2 and the code is burnt on to Friction force = weight to be carried
the microcontroller using the software
Flash Magic. Suction force = weight to be carried / µ
= 2 / 0.33
The program takes in six inputs which = 6 kgf
decide its direction and speed of the robot-
four for direction and two for speed 6.2 Increase in adhesive force
variation. For programming purposes the A simplified diagram of the impeller cup
robot is divided into two halves- left and arrangement is shown in Fig 6.
right. The following table indicates the
direction of rotation of the motors during
the various motions. The logic of the
program is adopted from Table 1.

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Now calculating the increase in force due

to the new design of the cup,

Force = change in momentum

= m (v2 – v1) / t

But since the initial velocity of air in

horizontal direction, the velocity in the
vertical direction is ‘0’, i.e., v1 = 0

Now, Force = (m v2 )/ t
= ρQ v2
= ρQ2 / a

Taking the internal and external diameters

of the outlet as 9cm and 11cm, the force
calculated is
Force = 7.81 

Fig. 6 Impeller-Cup arrangement 7. TESTS AD RESULTS

Consider an elemental area of radius ‘r’ Tests are first carried out with a 100 Watt
and thickness ‘dr’. motor-impeller arrangement with a self
Inlet diameter of impeller = 25 mm weight of ½ kg. The suction force obtained
Outlet diameter of impeller = 90mm by recirculation is noted as 1 kgf.

Applying energy equation to the flow Though an impeller with decreasing vane
without considering any loses: profile is known to have better
V2 / 2g + P / ρg = Va2 / 2g + Pa / ρg characteristics compared to a uniform
+ power head thickness impeller, it is found to be
unsuitable when used for the principle of
Where V = velocity of air in m/s recirculation.
Va = velocity of atmospheric air
=0 By studying the parameters involved and
P = pressure, -/m2 the geometry of the components the rate of
Pa = atmospheric pressure, -/m2 flow of air is calculated under suitable
assumptions. Further the rise in the
Power head = power / flow rate adhesive force is obtained. The formal
= 100 / Q calculations indicate a rise in the adhesion
Now, force by 70%.
F = ∫ PdA
As the suction force obtained from the
Now, dA = 2πr dr above is not as high as required for the
Also, V = Q / area robot a 600 Watt motor-impeller
= Q / 2πr × t arrangement is used. As the concept of
recirculation is not involved an impeller of
Where t = distance between the varying cross-section is used. The
impeller and wall recirculation of air is minimized by a
= 2 mm = 2 × 10-3m rubber cup which isolates the inlet and
outlet from the impeller. The suction force
Substituting and solving, we get obtained from the arrangement was
Q = 0.143 m3 /s measured to be 8 kgf which is enough to
carry the robot as well as any other small
equipment it needs to carry

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8. COCLUSIO
The amount of suction force required is
calculated. Different motor-impeller
arrangements are tried out and the suction
force was measured. From the test results
suitable motor and impeller is selected.
Inlet and outlet from the impeller is
isolated to improve suction force. The
circuit for control of motion of the robot is
designed and developed.
The suction force produced by VHST is
independent of the texture of the surface.
The calculations indicate an increase of
70% in the adhesive force with the given
principle over recirculation. The designed
robot has simplicity of operation and can
be used for various applications with little
or no change.
“CPIE-2007” 22-24 March
Using the frustum cup adhesion can be
further improved and progress is been
done this direction. The robot can also be
made autonomous by further developing
the control system.
9. REFERECES
Cepolina F., Michelini R.C., Razolli R.P.,
Zoppi M., (2003), On- Gecko, a climbing
robot for wall cleaning, 1st international
workshop on advances in service robotics
Luk B.L., Collie A.A., Cooke D. S. and
Chen S., On-Walking and Climbing
Service Robots for Safety Inspection of
Nuclear Reactor Pressure Vessels
Menon C., Murphy M., Sitti M., (2004),
On-Gecko Inspired Surface Climbing
Robots, IEEE International Conference on
Robotics and Biomimetics (ROBIO)