ROMA robots for inspection of steel based infrastructures

Abstract

The robotics laboratory of the Universidad Carlos III of Madrid has developed the ROMA climbing robots, which are able to travel along 3D complex environments to carry out inspection tasks. The ROMA robots family is able to self‐support its locomotion system and moves in a similar way to a caterpillar. During this motion the robots generate in real‐time an optimal path and grasp planning in order to ensure a stable self‐support and avoid obstacles in the environment. In order to move the robots in a teleoperated or automatic way a man‐machine interface has been developed. The robots were developed primarily for use during the inspection of complex metallic structures. There are a large number of operations to be performed on metallic structures such as those encountered in bridges, oil rigs and building skeletons which represent a danger for human operators. Nevertheless, they are not limited to these structures due to fact that they are equipped with the necessary tools for new environments like concrete.