The main objective of the ROMA robot is the development of multifunctional autonomous self-supported climbing robot able to travel into complex 3D metallic-based environments. The main application of the robot is the inspection of bridges, buildings? skeletons, off-shore platforms, etc. The robot is able to moves in a similar way to a caterpillar. The navigation is performed by the robot on-board CPU in autonomous way without other help. The robot is equipped with color camera and laser telemeter to check for rust, painting states and cracks in the structure. These data are transmitted to the ?ground? center to monitoring and supervision the inspection operations.
The robot has eight DOF kinematics:
a) Four DOF for the elevation and orientation of each gripper, b) one DOF for the rotation of the one of the grippers, c) one DOF for the “extension” of the body, and d) two DOF for the grippers.
Specifications:
a) Elevation range: -10º/+190º, b) orientation range: -190º/+190º, c) rotation range: -190º/+190º, d) extension range: 500 mm, e) grippers extension range: 300 mm, f) robot weight: 75 kg, g) maximum linear velocity: 1 m/min, and h) autonomy wirh on-board batteries: 3 h.
Sensors
The sensorial system is based on a camera and a laser telemeter, for inspection operations and for the robot navigation system.