Behavior Control of an Automatic Inspection Robot for Insulators

Abstract

This paper presents an automatic inspection robot for insulators installed on 500kV power transmission lines. In order to detect the poor insulators automatically, the robot’s behaviors are analyzed, and a behavior control model based on Finite State Machine (FSM) is established. Moreover, an exception handling method is proposed based on sensors and timers. The results of experiments in the laboratory prove that the control methods mentioned above are correct and valid. Experiments on a 500kV transmission live line show that the inspection robot can not only automatically move along the double insulator strings with variable intervals, but also reliably handle the abnormal conditions including slipping, power shortage, deadlocking, sensor abnormity, and probe loosening.