Magnetic Wall-Climbing Robot with Adaptive Tracked Mobility and Anti-Overturning Modules

Magnetic wall-climbing robots have great potential applications for the maintenance and inspection of large steel structures. However, they are susceptible to overturning when climbing over obstacles on vertical walls, primarily due to localized failures in the adhesion and shifts in the center of gravity. To address this issue, this paper presents an improved robot design featuring a passive adaptive tracked mobility module and a link-spring anti-overturning module. The adaptive tracked mobility module, incorporating spring tensioning mechanisms and belt press wheels, enables dynamic conformity to uneven walls and maintains stable magnetic adhesion. The link-spring anti-overturning module converts the front-end lift during obstacle crossing into an anti-overturning moment applied to the rear end of the robot. Notably, there is no need for additional drivers or control units. The structural design and three-dimensional modeling of the robot are carried out. Its working principle is analyzed, and parametric modeling and simulation analysis are performed. A physical prototype is developed and obstacle-crossing experiments are conducted on a vertical wall. The results demonstrate that the adaptive tracked mobility module and the anti-overturning module can successfully assist the robot in climbing over an obstacle with a maximum height of 23 mm, and the robot exhibits excellent stability while climbing over continuous obstacles and moving on uneven vertical walls.