Study on a Novel Wheel Type Tree-Climbing Robot

This paper presents a novel type of tree-climbing robot. The main parts of the robot are 2 vehicles, which are attached on the trunk of a tree and were stick tightly on the tree because of a holding device. A kind of spine array is distributed on the wheels, and the friction is enhanced. Static stress analysis shows that the robot can overcome gravity and can be attached reliably to the tree trunk. Experiments show that the new type vehicle tree-climbing robot can climb trees in a steady speed, and can be adapted the different diameter of the tree trunk.