RIOL - ROBOTIC INSPECTION OVER POWER LINES

This paper describes ongoing work on a prototype robot capable of moving on electric power lines executing monitoring tasks. The inspection of the power lines infrastructure, forest fire surveillance and wildlife study are the some of the potential applications.The robot is composed by a central body with three serial arms. Two of these are used to provide motion, using a statically stable variation of the brachiation movement, whereas the third arm is used to insure stability and assisting in the overtaking of obstacles in the lines. In addition, this third arm helps maintaining the torques required by the other two arms within reasonable values. Two vertical rotation joints allow the robot to perform curves and control its center of mass. The paper presents basic simulation results and details of the prototype under construction.