Locomotion Realization of an Autonomous Climbing Robot for Elliptic Half-shell Cleaning

Currently the number of buildings with complicated shapes is increasing worldwide. This paper presents an auto-climbing robot for cleaning the elliptic half-shell of National Grand Theatre in China. Its body consists of a climbing mechanism, a moving mechanism, two cleaning brushes and supporting mechanisms. The emphasis for discussion is on the locomotion realization which includes climbing and cleaning movements. The robot independently climbs and descends in the vertical direction and cleans in the horizontal direction. It takes the circling tracks as supports for climbing up and down between strips and moving horizontally along one strip around the ellipsoid. The kinematics models of the climbing and cleaning processes are given applying of the Lagrange equation. In the end, the successful on-site tests confirm the principles described above and the robot´s ability.