A Novel Running and Gripping Mechanism Design Based on Centroid Adjustment

One arm is hung on the overhead ground wires (OGWs), while the other arm is off the OGW when an inspection robot autonomously negotiates obstacles on OGWs. The inspection robot´s body tilts because the gravity torque is unbalanced, and it is difficult to negotiate obstacles autonomously. If the horizontal pose of the body is kept through the gripping mechanism, the gripping force will become bigger, and results in the damage of OGWs. A centroid adjustment method, which enables the centroid of the inspection robot to concentrate on the arm that is hung on OGWs, is proposed in this paper. That idea is applied in the design so that the running and gripping mechanisms ameliorate the strained condition of OGWs and reduce the extent of damage. A dynamic model is established in this paper, the simulation and experiments results prove that the method proposed is feasible