Optimization of a Lizard-Inspired Tube Inspection Robot

All civilization requires some sort of infrastructure to provide an essential service. Roads, bridges, pipelines, railroads, etc. are all critical in maintaining our society, but when they fail, they pose a serious threat to the economy, public safety, and environment. This is why it has become increasingly important to invest in and research the field of Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) to ensure the safety and reliability of our infrastructure. This research paper delves into the optimization of a Lizard-inspired Tube Inspection (LTI) robot, with the primary focus on the inspection side of SHM through the use of Electro Magnetic Acoustic Transducer (EMAT), a Non-Destructive Testing (NDT) method. The robot is designed to inspect power plants piping for damage or defects, and its ability to detect issues early, results in improved plant efficiency, enhanced structural data collection, and increased safety. An iterative, reliable design was constructed by reducing the weight and addressing previous design flaws and then tested. Solidworks was used to calculate theoretical weight, applied stress, and displacements for the design modifications.. The overall reduction in weight was around 12.4% of the previous design. While this research successfully reduced the robot's weight and resolved issues in its design, further optimization is still necessary. Future studies should investigate the finger and friction pad design, robot control, and ways to reduce the reliance on commercial off-the-shelf parts. This will expand the robot’s inspection capabilities, making it applicable in other industries where NDT is critical to ensure structural integrity and safety, such as the pipes in oil and gas refineries, water treatment plants, and chemical processing plants, innovating the way infrastructure is monitored and maintained.