Design Concept and Motion Planning of a SingleModuled Autonomous Pipeline Exploration Robot
Jong-Hoon Kim†, Gokarna Sharma†, and S.S. Iyengar† † Robotics Research Laboratory, Department of Computer Science Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA 70803, USA jkim24@lsu.edu, {gokarna, iyengar}@csc.lsu.edu
Abstract—In this paper, we present the design concept and motion planning of a single-moduled fully autonomous mobile pipeline exploration robot that can be used for the inspection of Φ130∼150mmpipelines.Inthisrobot,thefourstraightwall-press caterpillar wheels are fixed 90 degrees apart in its circumstance and each wheel is operated by two DC motors integrated in it. The speed of each wheel is controlled independently to provide steering capability to go through 45 degree elbows, 90 degree elbows, T-branches, and Y-branches. The robot system has been developed and experimented in different pipeline layouts for the validation of its design concept and motion planning mechanism.