Development of Climbing Robots with Different Types of Adhesion

There is enormous potential in industrial inspection tasks for climbing robots than can work in hazardous environments, climb on different types of surfaces and enter into very small spaces that have difficult access. For example when cleaning, painting, repairing and diagnostic inspection of walls of general buildings, or performing non destructive testing inspection and maintenance of oil storage tanks, nuclear power plants, petrochemical factories, medical applications etc. The paper describes several types of robot adhesion in different environments, some of which have been incorporated into wall climbing robot designs. The adhesion methods discussed generate forces with permanent magnets, vacuum suction cups, propellers, needles or grippers, glue or adhesive tape, and Van der waal’s effect.