Corresponding author: Tachkov Aleksandr A., Ph.D., Senior Researcher, Bauman Moscow State Technical University, REC Robotics, Moscow, 105005, Russian Federation, e-mail: tachkov@bmstu.ru

Received on December 03, 2015
Accepted on December 07, 2015

The mechanisms of a wall-climbing walking robot (WCWR) envisage two functions: "attachment" and "locomotion". There are many factors involved in these processes, and one of them is an adhesion method. In this paper, a miniature mobile WCWR with suction cups and an on-board vacuum pump with an additional vacuum tank is discussed. The paper describes a complex simulation model of the suction cup's adhesion to rough surfaces, which can be used for WCWR's conceptual design. The model is based on statistical characteristics of vertical surfaces, statistical characteristics of cracks and on the analysis of interaction between the adhesion system and the surface. The simulation model is used to select the basic parameters of the adhesion system, such as the pump capacity, and the vacuum tank's volume by the Monte-Carlo method. The effectiveness of the robot adhesion system is evaluated with the help of this model. Application of the simulation model is explained on an example. We evaluated the effectiveness of the vacuum tank by the number of robot steps. The results of adhesion system simulation are presented. Besides, we determined the distribution law of the robot's locomotion before it stops. The simulation results reveal that the distribution of the total number of steps follows the gamma-distribution. If we consider only the subsequent steps after the first successful one, their distribution follows the exponential probability law.

Keywords: wall-climbing walking robot, thermodynamic model, suction cup, vacuum tank, the Monte-Carlo method, exponential distribution, conceptual design, effectiveness, simulation, MATLAB

For citation:
Tachkov A. A., Kalinichenko S. V., Malykhin A. Ju. Simulation and Evaluation of the Adhesion System Effectiveness for a Miniature Mobile Wall-Climbing Robot with Suction Cups, Mekhatronika, Avtomatizatsiya, Upravlenie, 2016, vol. 17, no. 3, pp. 178—186.
DOI: 10.17587/mau/17.178-186

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