Accession Number:

ADA585977

Title:

Wall Climbing Micro Ground Vehicle (MGV)

Descriptive Note:

Final rept.

Corporate Author:

ARMY RESEARCH LAB ABERDEEN PROVING GROUND MD VEHICLE TECHNOLOGY DIRECTORATE

Personal Author(s):

• Bryant, Ian
• Carpenter, Howard
• Hall, Asha
• Bundy, Mark

Report Date:

2013-09-01

Pagination or Media Count:

36.0

Abstract:

The increasing desire to remove Soldiers from high-risk situations such as reconnaissance and maintenance of buildings and infrastructure has spawned the idea of wall-climbing robots. Such robots use techniques ranging from magnets to bio-mimicry in order to climb vertical and inverted surfaces. The focus of this project is to run a comparison analysis of different vortex adhesion base plates, which would result in an improvement on the fundamental design of a robotic wall climber. This study includes initial experimentation of inverted wing inspired base plates created to increase the adhesion forces on the robot. The results show that a flat plate with a full shroud can generate low pressures between the wall and itself while holding roughly 7 times its own weight, 1.93 kg. Our research has indicated that the inverted wing base plates create additional downward forces that are absent in the base plate. Lastly, by channeling airflow from the inlets to the impeller, the turbulent airflow that disrupts the vortex has been eliminated, thus improving performance.

Descriptors:

• *GROUND VEHICLES
• *ROBOTICS
• ADHESION
• AIR FLOW
• ARMY PERSONNEL
• CLIMBING EQUIPMENT
• COMPARISON
• IMPELLERS
• INFRASTRUCTURE
• MAINTENANCE
• RECONNAISSANCE
• WALLS

Subject Categories:

• Cybernetics
• Surface Effect Vehicles and Amphibious Vehicles
• Land and Riverine Navigation and Guidance

Distribution Statement:

APPROVED FOR PUBLIC RELEASE