A bio-mimetic pipe crawling microrobot driven based on self-excited vibration

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Abstract
The pipe crawling micro-robot based on self-excited vibration is proposed and prototyped according to the bionics principles. Its significance lies in improving driving efficiency and reducing power consumption. A linear electromagnetic solenoid is utilized as actuator of the robot. Since the driving joints of pipe crawling robots have different force characteristics during moving process, the dynamic model is established stage by stage, and then the numerical value simulation is carried out by computer. The results show that the energy of system can reach maximum by self-excited vibration if robot works nearly at the resonance frequency. A closed-loop system of self-excited vibration with amplitude feedback near the resonance point is designed. The experiment on prototype indicates that this pipe crawling robot can move forward, draw back and climb very flexibly at the speed, which is 7~8 times of the speed of open-loop controlled peristaltic pipe crawling robot.