Design of a Climbing Robot for Inspecting Aircraft Wings and Fuselage

This paper focuses on the design of a wall climbing robot. The robot carries a Cartesian scanning arm and a payload of various non-destructive testing (NDT) sensors while walking on the topside and downside of wings and on varying surface curvatures presented by the fuselage of different types of aircraft. The robot uses pneumatic cylinders to actuate the robots motion in X and Y directions. It uses suction cups to adhere the robot to the surface. The main achievement of this robot is the capability to cope with varying surface curvature when climbing around the aircraft while carrying a payload of up to 18kg. The robot achieves this capability with sufficient flexibility in its structure, feet and suctions cups to cope with varying surface curvature while remaining rigid once the robot feet adhere to the surface. Robot rigidity ensures a stable climbing motion and the vibration free deployment of the NDT sensors.