WAIBO: A Prototype of Water-Pipeline Inspection Robot in Murky Water, Fast Flow, and Small Obstacles

It remains a challenge for a pipeline inspection robot to traverse pipelines with water flow and obstacles and keep a smooth traversal in murky water. In this article, we developed a water-pipeline inspection robot (WAIBO) capable of resisting water flow and overcoming obstacles in murky water. WAIBO consists of two driving modules and one sensing module. The driving module has three leg wheels and a mechanism to adjust the pressure against the walls. This telescopic-pressing mechanism allows WAIBO to traverse stably by providing adequate normal force, i.e., to resist water flow and overcome obstacles. The sensing module can physically detect curved pipes using two encoders. This curve-detection mechanism allows WAIBO to control the speed of each wheel according to the turning direction and curvature, even in murky water. WAIBO is designed to resist 1 m/s of water flow and to traverse obstacles up to 10 mm in height. We performed experiments using a 15-m-long pipeline environment, including 1 m/s of water flow, six curved pipes, and three obstacles. The experimental results showed that WAIBO could smoothly overcome the obstacles using the telescopic-pressing mechanism and traverse the curved pipes using the curve-detection mechanism, without getting stuck.