Design and Development of a Deformable In-pipe Inspection Robot for Various Diameter Pipes

Pipelines have become one of the most important infrastructures in the city. Over time, they are prone to aging, cracks, corrosion, and the demand for regular inspection is gradually increasing. Robotic solutions are effective methods for in-pipe inspection. However, existing In-pipe Inspection Robots (IPIR) require that the inner diameter of the pipe is fixed in the application scenarios, and need extra labor to control the robot and handle the cable. In this work, we design and develop a deformable robot to adapt to pipes with different inner diameters. Specifically, the passive elastic hinge is used by us to make the robot fully in contact with the pipe, generating enough friction to ensure that the robot is attached to the inner wall of the pipe. An edge device is deployed on the robot, generating velocity commands of wheels through the data from Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU), which eliminates the need for external devices. Experimental results demonstrate that the robot can move in horizontal and vertical pipelines, as well as traverse through pipe joints and scenarios where there is dirty or small obstacle.