Design of miniaturized mobile mechanism for pipe travelling robot moving in a branch pipe

In recent years, the aging of social infrastructure has been accelerating. In particular, pipeline inspections in confined spaces face challenges such as time and labor-intensive manual inspections and inconsistencies in inspection quality, making the automation of inspections using robots highly anticipated. This study discusses the results of improvements made to the mobility mechanism of a 30mm-diameter pipeline robot, developed in previous research, to enable its application in branch pipes. Additionally, it presents the outcomes of efforts aimed at miniaturizing the mechanism to accommodate even smaller-diameter pipelines.