面向小孔径T形管道的气动软体机器人转向策略

Turning strategy of soft robot for T-branch pipes with small sizes

近年来,新型机器人技术被广泛应用于管道的维护与检查.为了克服刚性管道机器人的局限性,提高机器人的灵活性,软材料制成的机器人已被开发并用于管道探测.由于管道内部管路分支较多,软体机器人在管道内的转向控制面临较大挑战.针对此问题,设计一种小孔径管道软体机器人,并建立运动学模型,在此基础上提出了机器人在T形弯管中的柔顺转向策略.最后,通过实验验证了转向策略的有效性和准确性.实验结果表明,提出的转向策略能有效提高软体管道机器人在T形弯管中的通过性和智能性.

Currently,new robotic technology is widely used in pipeline maintenance and inspection.Robots made of soft materials have been developed and used in pipeline inspection to overcome the limitations of rigid in-pipe robots and improve maneuverability.The turning control of soft robots in pipelines is a great challenge,owing to the various specifications and branches of pipelines.A soft robot for pipes with small diameters was developed in this study to solve this problem using a kinematic model.Based on this model,the flexible turning strategy of robots in T-branch pipes was established.Finally,the effectiveness and accuracy of the turning strategy were verified using experiments.The proposed turning strategy can effectively improve the mobility and intelligence of soft inpipe robots in T-branch pipes.