Viscoelastic analysis on a novel adhesive tread-based footpad for Three-Dimensional climbing robots

This paper proposes a novel tread-based footpad for 3-Dimensional (3D) climbing robots. Different structures for 3D climbing robots were compared. To take advantage of the self-preloading ability, the tread-based footpad was designed as a part of the quadruped climbing robot. The footpad utilizes PU (Polyurethane) adhesive belt to adhere. The preloading of adhesion is performed by the translational motion and rotation output by the robot at the connecting point. The relationship between the attitude angle and the peeling angle was studied, and an optimum attitude angle was provided to maximize the adhesive force. The process of the footpad´s lifting was studied as well. Finite Element Method (FEM) was used to simulate the process. In experiments the footpad was tested. The footpad is promising in the fabrication of a quadruped 3D climbing robot for long-time stay on steep-sloped surfaces or even ceilings.