01 - Parallel Wall Climbing Robot

Team Members:

Austin Torres, Conner Petru, Kraig Thompson, Matthew Wash

Background:

Modern robots are most commonly seen walking on legs or driving on wheels. These modes of transportation perform well on flat ground and open spaces, but in less optimal conditions they tend to falter. Some situations may call for robots that don't walk or roll, but instead climb or crawl. These sorts of applications are less explored in the field of robotics, but they hold great promise for endeavors such as cave surveying or search-and-rescue. In our project, we hope to delve into the challenges facing climbing robotics and explore potential solutions with kinematic motion.

Problem Statement:

Our team has set out to develop a mechanism that can pull itself along two parallel walls. This sort of locomotion calls for a refined set of movements distributed evenly and symmetrically throughout the robot. If progress is to be made along the walls, these movements must apply significant forces so that the robot can be pulled forward. Such a large and precise load cannot be created by a simple joint, which is why we must employ a series of more complicated linkages to define our robot's motion.

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