Inspection of Surfaces with a Manipulator Mounted on a Climbing Robot

The non-destructive inspection of large bridges with autonomous systems is still an unsolved problem. One of the main difficulties is to develop a very flexible platform, which is able to move at horizontal and vertical areas and can inspect the surface. For precise inspection of concrete walls it is essential to have a manipulator to perform a 2D scan with adequate sensors. In this paper a climbing robot with a manipulation arm will be presented. The platform consists of a vacuum system for the adhesion and omni directional driven wheels for the locomotion. The manipulator base on parallel kinematic techniques and is able to make scans with different types of inspection sensor. For controlling the platform and the manipulator there are coupled algorithm implemented to generate adequate inspection trajectories. The paper ends with test results, done with a manipulator mounted on a vehicle which drives on the floor.