Micro inspection robot for 1-in pipes

A micro inspection robot for 1-in pipes has been developed. The robot is 23 mm in diameter and 110 mm in length and is equipped with a high-quality micro charge-coupled device (CCD) camera and a dual hand for manipulating small objects in pipes; It can travel through both vertical piped and curved sections, making possible inspections that would be difficult with conventional endoscopes. Its rate of travel is 6 mm/s and it has a load-pulling power of 1 N, To realize this microrobot, the authors have specially designed and developed several micro devices and micromechanisms: a novel micromechanism called a planetary wheel mechanism for robot drive; a micro electromagnetic motor with a micro planetary reduction gear to drive the planetary wheel mechanism; a micro pneumatic rubber actuator that acts as a hand; a micro CCD camera with high resolution; and a pneumatic wobble motor for rotating the camera and hands. In this paper, the design and performance of these micro devices are reported, the performance of the robot as a whole is described, and an application example is given.