Design and performance analysis of a tracked wall-climbing robot for ship inspection in shipbuilding

Ship inspection is renowned for its hazardous and cluttered working environment. In worst cases, human operators must risk their lives to reach the almost inaccessible inspecting area. This situation yields, in a natural way, to the utilization of remotely controlled devices. Thus a tracked wall-climbing robot was brought forth in our research as one of the most advanced and promising solutions. In this paper, a robot with climbing ability is designed and prototyped for vertical structure inspection in shipbuilding. It combines magnetic caterpillars and magnets to climb ferromagnetic surfaces, like double-bottom of ship hull. The structure of two trapezoidal tracks allows the robot to climb over uneven surfaces, like ship bulwark. Equipped with special probe clamping devices and employing magnetic properties, the robot is able to perform ship inspection tasks in those human unfriendly and inaccessible environments and therefore cut down costs. This achievement may open new avenues for mobile robotics inspection of ferromagnetic industrial structures as well.