This paper proposed a novel spatial-motion-constraints virtual fixtures (VFs) method for the human-machine interface collaborative technique. In our method, two 3D flexible VFs have been presented: warning pipe and safe pipe. And a potential-collision-detection method based on two flexible VFs has been proposed. The safe pipe constructs the safe workspace dynamically for the robot, which makes ...

This paper describes the multi-module configuration of the Developing Water Loss Prevention – DeWaLoP – in-pipe robot system. The system objective is to redevelop the pipes of the over 100 years old fresh water supply systems of Vienna and Bratislava by crawling into water canals of about 1 meter in diameter and applying a restoration material to repair the pipes. Inpipe robots with multiple mo...

Industrial requirements concerning the increased efficiency and high rate of manufacturing result in the development of manufacturer robots, and a vast group of these types of robots is used for welding. This study presented the design, analysis, and simulation of a pipe-welding robot with fixed plinth for a constant circular welding around the pipes. Design of a welding robot capable of keepin...

The ultrasonic wave is applied as an inspection method for the gas-holder and the pipeline in service. In such an inspection, the application of an automatic inspection system is desirable, because a manual inspection is difficult to accomplish perfectly and exactly due to its enormity, a so-called nondestructive inspection robot is then preferable. However, an ultrasonic nondestructive inspect...

Up to 20 percent of the German sewerage systems are damaged mainly due to their high age. The estimation for the restoration costs is about 100 billions DM. As a consequence the German Government has issued comparably harsh environmental laws enforcing the owner of a sewerage system to check regularity its state by means of suitable inspection technology. However, at the present state of the ar...

The aim of this paper is to give an innovative concept to handle the bore well rescue operations without human intervention and to inspect any type of leakage in the pipe. Normal operation of child rescue is done by using big machines with large manpower involvement. It takes more time to rescue a child from the bore well and to check any kind of irregularities in pipe. Wheeled leg mechanism is...

A practical algorithm for 3-D interpretation of images taken in a sewer by a robot-inspector is presented. Modern sewers made of concrete present regular circular structures originating at the pipe ends as well as at the joints of the pipe sections. These pipe ends and joints provide regular marks on the sewer images and can be used for their 3-D interpretation. The key idea of the paper is to ...

This paper presents the architecture used to develop a micro-robot for narrow pipes inspection. Both the electromechanical design and the control scheme will be described. In pipe environments it is very useful to have a method to retrieve information of the state of the inside part of the pipes in order to detect damages, breaks and holes. Due to the different types of pipes that exists, a mod...

In the past 20 years, numerous in-pipe inspection robots (IPIRs) have been designed and utilized. According to the propulsion mechanism amount, these in-pipe inspection robots (IPIRs) can be summarized into two categories, i.e. single locomotion system and multiple locomotion system. This paper presents the classic structure features and characters of the two categories of IPIRs, and furthermor...