Design of an Adaptive Spiral-Loop Pipeline Robot Based on Laser SLAM

Urban development leads to a large and complex underground pipe network with pipe issues. Regular inspections of pipelines are necessary. Current pipeline robots have drawbacks like limited diameter adaptability, high traveling resistance and poor navigation. Manual inspection is inefficient. This paper presents an adaptive spiral-loop pipeline robot using Laser SLAM. Its mechanical structure has a spiral mode and loop design to reduce resistance. It employs a multi-stage screw-nut-spring support rod type diameter-changing mechanism to adapt to pipes of different diameters. For localization in GPS-ineffective underground, Laser SLAM is applied. After validating the solution's feasibility via structure and trajectory analysis, the ROS/Gazebo and evo tool are used for simulation. Quantitative analysis shows the robot's average absolute error in the pipeline is under 0.58m and stability standard deviation is less than 0.27m, proving Laser SLAM's applicability.