TY  - JOUR
AB  - Purpose– Wall climbing robots' volume is needed to be very small in fields that workspace is limited, such as anti‐terror scouting, industry pipe network inspecting and so on. The purpose of this paper is to design a miniature wall climbing robot with biomechanical suction cups actuated by shape memory alloy (SMA) actuators.Design/methodology/approach– Based on characteristics of biologic suction apparatuses, the biomechanical suction cup is designed first. Theory analysis of the suction cup is made considering elastic plate's deflection and SMAs constitutive model. A triangular close linkage locomotion mechanism is chosen for the miniature robot because of its simple structure and control. The robot's gait, kinematics, and control system are all illustrated in this paper.Findings– Experiments indicate that the suction cup can be used as an adhesion mechanism for miniature wall climbing robots, and the miniature robot prototype with biomechanical suction cups can move in straight line and turn with a fixed angle on an inclined glass wall.Originality/value– This paper describes how a miniature wall climbing robot with biomechanical suction cups actuated by SMA without any air pump is designed.
VL  - 36
IS  - 6
SN  - 0143-991X
DO  - 10.1108/01439910910994623
UR  - https://doi.org/10.1108/01439910910994623
AU  - Hu Bingshan
AU  - Wang Liwen
AU  - Zhao Yanzheng
AU  - Fu Z.
PY  - 2009
Y1  - 2009/01/01
TI  - A miniature wall climbing robot with biomechanical suction cups
T2  - Industrial Robot: An International Journal
PB  - Emerald Group Publishing Limited
SP  - 551
EP  - 561
Y2  - 2024/04/26
ER  -