Research on a wall climbing robot based on electrostatic adhesion

A wall climbing robot with crawler type, using electrostatic adhesion pads (EAP), which enables strong adaptability to wide range of wall surfaces, relatively light weight, simple structure and low power consumption, has been proposed in this paper. Firstly, the principle of the electrostatic adhesion and the equivalent calculation of adhesion force are presented. Secondly, the robot quasi-static force analysis is discussed for the safety of the robot on the wall. Furthermore, the electrostatic adhesion pads are designed and manufactured, and the electrostatic adhesion force (EAF) of the electrostatic adhesion pads has been experimented on the variety of wall materials. Finally, a wall climbing robot prototype is designed and the performance tests of the robot are accomplished on different wall surfaces.