An Origami-Based Cable-Climbing Soft Robot

Cable-climbing robots are essential for performing inspection and maintenance in hard-to-reach places with a cable-based infrastructure. However, current robots are often either cumbersome, have low load capacities or struggle to accommodate cables with largely varying diameters. To address these issues with a single design, this study demonstrates an origami-based, cable-climbing soft robot capable of caterpillar-like anchor-crawling locomotion. This robot weighs around 110 g and consists of a body mechanism and two leg mechanisms. The body mechanism with sufficient compliance can adapt to various bends of the cables. The leg mechanism utilizes a bionic gripping design that enables it to climb cables with diameters ranging from less than 1 mm to tens of millimeters. Additionally, the bistable performance of the leg mechanism allows the robot to secure itself to cables within a certain diameter range, even without continuous actuation. Moreover, the robot has a good load capacity and, for instance, can carry a load of more than ten times its weight on a vertical cable with a diameter of 30 mm. More capabilities of the robot are also demonstrated, including crawling between cables with different diameters, traversing protruding obstacles, transporting items, and completing complex tasks, such as repairing damaged cables.