Development of a Multi-DOF Cutting Tool with a Foldable Supporter for Compact In-Pipe Robot

This research purposes a development of a multi-DOF cutting tool with a foldable supporter (CIPbot-2), which is designed to enhance the performance and the stability of the in-pipe robot, to operate in heavy-duty tasks such as drilling the holes, removing the blockages and so on. This robot is an upgrade version of our previous robot (CIPbot-1), [1–2]. The robot is designed to compatible with more of cutting tool for using in different situation. The robot is designed for the sewers within 150-300 mm in diameter. The proposed robot consists of a locomotion section (adjustable folding mechanism and six-crawlers, each is driven by only one motor) and a manipulator section (3-DOF cutting tool with foldable supporter and a camera system for observation). The robot is expected to work instead of workers to help them work easier and safer in the small place or dirty and dangerous environment, which may affect to their health and life. The concept design of the robot is analyzed and explained in this paper. The performance of the new manipulator and the benefit of the foldable supporter are confirmed by the experiments.