The College of Engineering Trivandrum (CET) has achieved a patent for its multipurpose all-climbing robot, which could scale up the vertical surfaces, ceilings, and roofs using a duct fan mechanism. The machine could replace the manual workforce in façade cleaning jobs and crack inspection of the concrete structures. The four-wheel vehicle has faster movement and has better load-bearing than the existing wall climbing mechanisms, CET confirmed.
With this robot, the inspection work of huge concrete structures can be made faster and more accurate using this wireless wall climbing robot instead of the tedious way for workers to reach there to inspect. The movement of the robot and the working of the payload can be monitored with someone sitting at a distance of one km with a personal computer, or even recorded and analysed at a later stage.
A working prototype is available at the Electronics and Communication Department of the College of Engineering, Trivandrum. The wall-climbing robot can be used for adapting to situations that are dangerous for humans. Separately, Serbot AG, an industrial company in Switzerland, had also developed a wall and solar panel cleaning robot, GEKKO, which is equipped with a vacuum suction cup crawler. Based on similar technology, the robot could climb skyscrapers for glass façade cleaning.
