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1, FEBRUARY 2005 1
I. INTRODUCTION Fig. 1. Classification of in-pipe robots. (a) Pig type. (b) Wheel type.
(c) Caterpillar type. (d) Wall-press type. (e) Walking type. (f) Inchworm type.
(g) Screw type.
P IPELINES which are tools for transporting oils, gases, and
other fluids, such as chemicals, have been employed as
major utilities in a number of countries for long time. Recently, most of them have been designed depending upon specific
many troubles have occured in pipelines, and most of them are applications. As shown in Fig. 1(a), for example, the pig type
caused by aging, corrosion, cracks, and mechanical damages is one of the most well-known commercial ones, which is pas-
from third parties. Even though lasting activities for mainte- sively driven by the fluid pressure inside pipelines. It has been
nance are strongly demanded, they need enormous budgets employed for the inspection of pipelines with large diameters
that may not be easily handled by related industries. Currently, [1]. The wheel type illustrated in Fig. 1(b) is similar to the plain
the applications of robots for the maintenance of the pipeline mobile robot, and a number of commercialized robots have
utilities are considered as one of the most attractive solutions been reported up to now [2][19]. Fig. 1(c) shows the robot
available. with caterpillars instead of wheels [20]. As shown in Fig. 1(d),
In-pipe robots, which have a long history of development the wall-press type, which has a number of advantages in
in robotics, can be classified into several elementary forms climbing vertical pipelines, corresponds to the robot with a
according to movement patterns, as shown in Fig. 1, although flexible mechanism for pressing the wall with whatever means
they apply [13], [21]. As depicted in Fig. 1(e), the walking type
Manuscript received August 26, 2003; revised May 28, 2004. This paper possessing articulated legs can produce highly sophisticated
was recommended for publication by Associate Editor K. Yoshida and Editor motions [22][25]. The inchworm type given in Fig. 1(f) is
I. Walker upon evaluation of the reviewers comments. This work was supported
by a grant from the Safety and Structural Integrity Research Center at Sung usually employed for pipelines with very small diameters
Kyun Kwan University. This paper was presented in part at the IEEE Interna- [26][39]. The screw type (or helical-drive type) displays
tional Conference on Robotics and Automation, Seoul, Korea, 2001, in part at the motion of a screw when it advances in the pipelines, as
the International Symposium on Robotics, Seoul, Korea, 2001, and in part at the
IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation, Washington, DC, depicted in Fig. 1(g) [37][42]. Most in-pipe robots employ the
2002. mechanism derived from one of the aforementioned basic types
The authors are with the Intelligent Robotics and Mechatronic System Lab- of mechanisms or their combinations. In fact, the goals of the
oratory, School of Mechanical Engineering, Sungkyunkwan University, Suwon
440-746, Korea (e-mail: hrchoi@me.skku.ac.kr). in-pipe robot have close relations with the taskspace of specific
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/TRO.2004.838000 applications, because the principal requirement of the in-pipe
1552-3098/$20.00 2005 IEEE
2 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON ROBOTICS, VOL. 21, NO. 1, FEBRUARY 2005
allowed when the front and rear wheels are constrained by the
motor casing. In case of the MRINSPECT IV, however, the front
and rear wheel sets can move along a radial direction indepen-
dently, because the axial displacement according to the radial
one is not so large that the asymmetric motion is practically fea-
sible, as shown in Fig. 8.
Since the proposed mechanism has been designed to make
the wheel have effective contact with the inside of pipelines and
to cope with the variation of pipelines, the robot is adaptable to
the uncertain pipeline conditions, as well as providing sufficient
traction forces during movements.
B. Driving Module
Three driving modules are attached at the ends of the legs on
the body frame, as depicted in Fig. 4. The driving module largely
consists of a geared DC motor (Maxon, 4.5 W) with an encoder,
several wheels, gears, and casings, as shown in Fig. 10(a). The
front wheel and the rear one are driven with a single motor via Fig. 10. Driving module. (a) Outline of the driving module. (b) Details of
power transmission mechanism.
gear transmission, as shown in Fig. 10(b), where s denote the
vectors for the rotating directions of the transmission units. As
the driving module is designed to be easily disassembled from
the body frame, the convenience in maintenance is ensured.
Driving modules, since they are independently controlled, am-
plify traction forces, which let the robot have sufficient tractive
forces on moving upward in the vertical pipelines.
C. CCD Assembly
As shown in Fig. 11, the CCD assembly is composed of a
CCD camera, lamps for illumination, a frame, and an additional
mechanism, called the CCD wheel set. The CCD wheel set in-
cludes a CCD wheel rotating along the circumferential direc-
tion, and eight couples of the CCD subwheel located on CCD
wheels and capable of rotating along their own axes. Because
Fig. 11. Construction and function of CCD assembly.
the CCD subwheels are capable of rotating circumferentially as
well as along its own axes, it helps the robot slide on the wall
in-pipe robot, but there are several intrinsic problems to be con-
during steering in the fittings and guides it in the desired di-
sidered in the design of the in-pipe robot, especially its size.
rection, and prevents the body of the robot from having direct
Since the inside of a pipeline is narrow and rigidly constrained,
contact with the wall so that the robot may not be stuck in the
the size of the robot is not allowed to be excessively large or ex-
pipeline.
tremely small, which is determined depending on the size of the
pipelines. Hence, the selection of the differential-drive robot,
III. PROBLEM STATEMENTS because it provides simplicity and compactness in mechanism,
The geometries of urban gas pipelines are relatively simple, assures advantages over the others. Nevertheless, moving inside
because their dimensions and configurations are regulated by pipelines with a differential-drive robot produces several diffi-
law. It is sure to be an advantageous aspect in developing an cult problems in practical applications.
ROH AND CHOI: DIFFERENTIAL-DRIVE IN-PIPE ROBOT FOR MOVING INSIDE URBAN GAS PIPELINES 5
Fig. 14. Analysis for movement of disk in elbow. (a) Perspective view.
0
(b) Projected view on x y plane.
Fig. 19. Comparisons of velocities according to the axial posture angle of the
robot. (a) Velocities of wheels. (b) Velocity ratios of wheels.
is the center line of the branch. On entering the branch, the di-
ameter of the pipeline initially does not change a lot until the
front wheel set reaches the line after passing through the
line . The robot still cannot turn in this region, regardless
of the difference of wheel speeds. When the front wheel set ap-
proaches the line , the diameter of the pipeline changes
considerably, and the robot goes straight. However, it can not
still turn actively because the front wheel set has contact with the
inner surface of the pipeline, and the rear wheel set is entirely
constrained in the inner surface of the pipeline. In this situation,
wheels just slip on the inner surfaces of the pipeline whenever it
tries to turn with differences of the wheel velocities. This space
is called the preliminary space, because the robot is ready to
turn or drive forward. When the front wheel set is close to the
line , either one or two wheels placed in the region, called
the turn drive space, loses contact with the inner surface of the
pipeline. This space is called the drive choice space because the Fig. 26. Strategy for turning in the branch. (a) Basic idea. (b) Determination
of turning direction. (c) Relation between axial posture and rotational speed.
robot is able to choose the direction of movement, e.g., turning
or going forward. It can turn toward the designated direction if
the speeds of the wheels are adequately modulated.
Though the method in the elbow may be partly employed 3) As shown in Fig. 23, the robot meets a wide variety of
on traveling through the branch, there are several characteristic cross-sections when it turns in the branch, which is not
features requiring the method dedicated to the branch as follows. in the case of the elbow. Depending on the direction of
1) As the robot proceeds to turn in the branch, the front turning, the influence of gravity changes, and the paths
wheel set and the rear wheel set may be folded or un- of turning change accordingly. In Fig. 23, the paths of
folded, respectively, as shown in Fig. 22. Thus, light slips turning are simulated, where Curve and Curve
in the contact points are inevitable, which are more se- are the paths according to the directions of gravity, such
vere in the V-shaped area. as and , respectively.
2) As shown in Fig. 22, some of the wheels lose contact 4) The paths of turning are not deterministic, and change
with the wall, and the assumption that six wheels have considerably depending on the direction of entrance,
contact with the wall in the branch is not valid any more. as illustrated in Fig. 24. For example, Curve for
10 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON ROBOTICS, VOL. 21, NO. 1, FEBRUARY 2005
Fig. 30. Navigation in the elbow. (a) Robot in the transparent elbow. (b) Test
for drive performance in the elbow.
Fig. 29. Testbeds. (a) Testbed for preliminary experiment. (b) Testbed for
advanced experiment.
Fig. 32. Classification of turn drive according to the placement with respect to the direction of gravity. (a) Turn drive from the side entrance. (b) Turn drive from
the middle entrance.
A. Outline of Experimental Setup concluded that the speed modulation of the differential-drive
robot is very important for moving in the elbow.
As shown in Fig. 27, MRINSPECT IV is controlled by a
personal computer and its power is supplied via a tether cable C. Experiments in Branches
externally. An operator controls the robot with a joystick and a
Movements in the branch are largely classified into two cases,
keyboard using the images from the CCD camera transmitted
such as straight drive and turn drive, as depicted in Fig. 31. The
through the tether cable. In most cases, the robot moves au-
straight drive is simple to realize, compared with the turn drive,
tonomously, and the operator chooses only the direction of
since all the driving wheels just need to have the same speed.
movement in the branch by observing the CCD images on
The turn drive in the branch is largely classified into two cases,
which the angle for choosing the direction of movement is
as shown in Fig. 32, according to the entrance of the branch the
displayed, as shown in Fig. 28(a). The left window of Fig. 28(b)
robot approaches. Also, two cases in Fig. 32 are divided into ten
is for steering, and it helps the operator choose the direction
subcases according to the relative placement of the branch with
of steering in the branch according to the axial posture of
respect to the direction of gravity. In fact, the turn drive is pos-
the robot. The right window displays the data and the state
sible without considering the direction of gravity in the Cases 1
information of the robot in realtime. All the programs were
and 2, while the direction of gravity should be taken into consid-
coded with C++.
eration in the other cases. In Figs. 33 and 34, the experimental
The experiments were carried out in the test bed shown in
scenes for these cases are shown. All the cases have been proven
Fig. 29, where Fig. 29(a) was for the preliminary test, and
to be successful. It has been shown that the turn drive could be
Fig. 29(b) was for the experiments in fittings. For ease of
accomplished just by the triggering force generating the driving
observation, pipelines were made of transparent plastics with
momentum along the commanded direction.
several off-the-shelf parts, and various experiments could be
performed by reconfiguring the components of the testbed.
VII. SUPPLEMENTARY DISCUSSIONS
In this section, several additional considerations in the design
B. Experiments in Elbows
are discussed.
Fig. 30(a) represents the experimental scenes when the robot
moved along the elbow. Its maximum speed of movement A. Number of Driving Modules
was 0.15 m/s while controlling velocities. Fig. 30(b) shows In general, the differential-drive robot should have more than
the second experiment where the robot traveled in the special three driving modules in order to move in the pipelines, because
pipelines composed of three elbows continuously welded. To the robot with two driving modules cannot turn in the branch
prove the effectiveness of the proposed method, the power con- under the influence of gravity, and also cannot choose the di-
sumption was measured when the control method was applied rection for steering. The robot with four driving modules has
or not, respectively. When the velocity was not controlled, characteristic features different from MRINSPECT IV. Usually,
about 10% more power was consumed, and it is because the only three driving modules among four have contact with the
robot was overloaded due to slippage of wheels. It can be inner wall, as illustrated in Fig. 35(b), in the elbow. As shown in
ROH AND CHOI: DIFFERENTIAL-DRIVE IN-PIPE ROBOT FOR MOVING INSIDE URBAN GAS PIPELINES 13
Fig. 33. Experiments on turning in the branch. (a) Case 1. (b) Case 3. (c) Case 5. (d) Case 7. (e) Case 9.
Fig. 35(c), all the modules have contact with the wall only when and the size of the robot. The worst placement of the robot is
, , , and . Otherwise, three of the driving when it is inclined with , as illustrated in Fig. 36(a). In this
modules give driving forces, while the other module idles or situation, two different cases can be considered: 1) the diameter
slips. of the robot is relatively smaller than the height , and both
In the branch, although the driving force increases as the ends of the robot and are located on the region of the
number of active modules having contact with the wall does, straight pipeline and 2) both ends of the robot are included in
a critical aspect is not the force, but the triggering action, the elbow. Depending on the situation, constraint equations are
as mentioned in Section V. Therefore, the mechanism with derived to determine the size of the robot [12]. In the case of 1),
three driving modules is the configuration of the mecha- has the range of
nism recommended.
(16)
B. Size of In-Pipe Robot
Pipeline configurations give geometric limitations, and the The length of the robot is given by
size of a robot should be determined to satisfy the limitations. In
the elbow, the robot can be modeled as a cylinder, and relations
(17)
can be derived between the diameter of the elbow, the curvature,
14 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON ROBOTICS, VOL. 21, NO. 1, FEBRUARY 2005
Fig. 34. Experiments on turning in the branch. (a) Case 2. (b) Case 4. (c) Case 6. (d) Case 8. (e) Case 10.
Since is represented as in Fig. 36 ( is in the urban Equations (16), (18), (19), and (21) provide the basic constraint
gas pipelines, but is set to be for comparing with the equation so that the robot can move in pipelines connected with
branch), the length of the robot is rewritten by elbows. The details can be referred to in [12].
In the branch, the size of the robot determines whether turning
(18) is possible or not. For example, when the length of the robot is
In the case of 2), the range of is obtained by a little longer in Fig. 36(b), the robot cannot turn in the branch
although the robot has the proper size for moving in the elbow.
(19) When the front wheel set of the robot is placed in the branch and
the rear wheel set has contact with the inner side of the straight
Thus, the length of the robot becomes section of the pipeline, the rear wheel set is confined absolutely
to the straight section of the pipeline. The rear wheel set is kept
(20) from steering, although the robot tries to turn. Thus, to turn in the
branch, the rear wheel set should pass over the line , from
and rewritten by which is the area of the branch. The robot should start turning
before the front wheel set reaches the line . If the front
(21) wheel set passes over the line and the robot tries turning,
ROH AND CHOI: DIFFERENTIAL-DRIVE IN-PIPE ROBOT FOR MOVING INSIDE URBAN GAS PIPELINES 15
as the CCD wheel set, extends the boundary of turning to the line
. Therefore, the length of the robot should be shorter than
. On the other hand, the robot could turn easily, but could
not drive straight because it would be isolated in the turn drive
space if the length of the robot is shorter than the diameter
of the pipeline. Thus, the length of the robot for negotiating
branches is given by
(22)
VIII. CONCLUSIONS
In this paper, the issues of the mechanical construction
of MRINSPECT IV and its control, mainly focused on the
movement in fittings such as the elbow and the branch, were
discussed. According to the experiments, MRINSPECT IV
could navigate almost all kinds of pipeline configurations,
Fig. 35. Features of four driving modules. (a) 3-D view. (b) Contact of three
wheels. (c) Contact of four wheels. regardless of the effect of gravity, its postures, and the direction
of movement. Though the algorithms were described based
on MRINSPECT IV, the ideas can be generalized to other
robots. However, according to our experiences on this work,
the mechanism of the in-pipe robot should be adaptable to
the characteristic condition of the pipelines, and it is the pre-
liminary requirement for successful movement. The use of a
general-purpose robot may not be possible in in-pipe applica-
tions. For that means, MRINSPECT IV has the possibility of
being used in practical applications, although it is still under
improvement through testing in field conditions.
APPENDIX
The equation of Curve W on which , , and exist, can be
obtained by using (2), because Curve W means that the value
of the coordinate in (2) is . In advance, Curve W can be
expressed with parameters and as the following equation:
(23)
According to (2), we get
(24)
Fig. 36. Size of the robot. (a) Size of the robot for negotiating the elbow.
(b) Size of the robot for negotiating the branch. (25)
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[42] S. Iwashina, I. Hayashi, N. Iwatsuki, and K. Nakamura, Development Since 1995, he has been with Sungkyunkwan Uni-
of in-pipe operation micro robots, in Proc. Int. Symp. Micro Machines, versity, Suwon, Korea, where he is currently a Pro-
Human Science, 1994, pp. 4145. fessor in the School of Mechanical Engineering. He
[43] K. Suzumori, S. Wakimoto, and M. Takata, A miniature inspection was an Associate Engineer with LG Electronics Cen-
robot negotiating pipes of widely varying diameter, in Proc. IEEE Int. tral Research Laboratory, Seoul, Korea, from 1986 to 1989. From 1993 to 1995,
Conf. Robotics, Automation, vol. 2, 2003, pp. 27352740. he was with Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan, as a grantee of scholarship funds
[44] S. Fujiwara, R. Kanehara, T. Okada, and T. Sanemori, An articulated from the Japanese Educational Administry. He visited the Advanced Institute of
multi-vehicle robot for inspection and testing of pipeline interiors, in Industrial Science Technology (AIST), Tsukuba, Japan, as a JSPS Fellow from
Proc. IEEE/RSJ Int. Conf. Intelligent Robots, Systems, vol. 1, 1993, pp. 1999 to 2000. His interests include dexterous mechanisms, field applications of
509516. robots, and artificial muscle actuators.