Rise-Rover: A wall-climbing robot with high reliability and load-carrying capacity

Based on our previous City-Climber wall-climbing robot, this paper presents Rise-Rover, with high reliability and load-carrying capacity for Non-Destructive Testing (NDT) and autonomous surveillance on vertical surfaces. An innovative high-speed vacuum suction module is designed as the adhesion system to support heavy load. The suction cups are embedded in the wheel track so that the robot can maintain good mobility performance and stability when crossing small grooves. Using the high-speed blushless DC motor controller and pressure sensor, PID control is designed on board to provide stable suction force for the wall-climbing robot. Rise-Rover is remotely connected and controlled by Android platform via WiFi, and User Interface (UI) provides good usability and convenience. With the compactable dimension of each drivetrain module: 8 inches × 21 inches × 5.5 inches, Rise-Rover (with two modules, self-weight 24 lbs) is able to carry 16 lbs on vertical wall under locomotion speed 30 meters/minute.