IEEE Robotics & Automation Magazine - September 2013 - 61

Table 1. Summary of climbing robots.
Author (Robot)

Connecting Mechanism (Structure Type)

Description and Purpose

Aracil et al., 2006 [5] Mechanical gripper

Parallel-climbing robot based on Stewart-Gough's platform for
climbing on palm trees and within complex structures.

Balaguer et al., 2002 Mechanical gripper
(Roma 1) [6]

Large, untethered inspection robot for structures. Robot mass
is 70 kg.

Balaguer et al., 2002 Suction cups (smooth surfaces)
(Roma 2) [6]

Inspection robot for moving within structures.

Chatzakos et al.,
2006 [7]

Mechanical pipe-clamping mechanism

Tethered, omnidirectional pipe inspection robot capable of
traversing pipe bends and branches.

Chen and Yeo,
2003 [8]

Suction cups

Tethered walking robot capable of traversing on flat surfaces.

Daltorio et al.,
2009 [9]

Mechanical and adhesive mechanism

Small robot that demonstrates climbing with different mechanic
and adhesive connection mechanisms that include hooks,
spines, adhesive tapes, and Velcro.

Elliot et al., 2007
(City-Climber) [10]

Suction mechanism

Untethered wall-climbing robot.

Fu et al., 2008 [11]

Suction mechanism

Wheel-leg hybrid robot capable of moving on horizontal and
vertical surfaces.

Goldman, 2009
(HyDRAS) [12]

Robot clamps around structure.

Snake like climbing robot.

Hillenbrand et al.,
Suction mechanism
2008 (Cromsci) [13]

Inspection robot for concrete walls.

Hjelle, 2009 [27]

Bidirectional gearing system

Three-dimensional (3-D) truss construction robot.

Kalra et al.,
2006 [14]

Permanent magnet mechanism

Oil tank inspection robot.

Kennedy et al., 2006 Mechanical gripping/holding mechanism
(Lemur IIb) [15]

Free-climbing robot.

Kotay and Rus,
1996 [16]

Magnetic mechanism

Tethered inchworm robot for climbing on 3-D structures.

Krosuri and Minor,
2005 [17]

Suction or magnetic mechanism

Tethered biped robot for climbing and walking using a hybrid
hip joint.

Minor and
Mukherjee,
2003 [18]

Suction cups

Small, tethered biped robot.

Sattar et al.,
2009 [19]

Mechanical mechanism

Ring-climbing robot for inspection of wind turbines. Ring-type
robot is assembled around wind turbine pole.

Skaff et al., 2001
(Skyworker) [1]

Mechanical gripper

Climbing robot with the ability to add and remove individual
beams under simulated zero gravity.

Spenko et al., 2008
(RiSE) [20]

Interlocking and bonding mechanism

Biologically inspired hexapod untethered robot that uses locking
and bonding mechanism to climb walls and trees.

Sun et al., 2004 [21] Suction cups (glass surface)

Cleaning robot for glass walls of high-rise buildings.

Tâche et al., 2009
(MagneBike) [22]

Magnetic mechanism (ferrous pipes)

Two-wheel bike like tethered robot for inspection of large
ferromagnetic pipes with complex-shaped geometries.

Tavakoli et al.,
2005 [23]

Mechanical gripper

Parallel/serial hybrid pole-climbing robot.

Tavakoli et al., 2008
(3-DCLIMBER) [24]

Mechanical gripper

Tethered climbing robot for inspection of 3-D structures.

Terada et al.,
2008 [29]
(AMAS) [29]

Mechanical gripper

Robot that can build and climb on a structure created of passive
cube elements.

White et al.,
2005 [25]

Suction mechanism

Tethered manufacturing and inspection robot.

Yun et al., 2008
(Shady3-D) [2]

Mechanical gripper

Structure-climbing robot. Three motive degree of freedom
(DoF) robot that can combine with a second robot to create
a six-DoF robot.

september 2013

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IEEE ROBOTICS & AUTOMATION MAGAZINE

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Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of IEEE Robotics & Automation Magazine - September 2013
