College of Engineering Trivandrum gets patent for wall climbing robot

The College of Engineering Trivandrum (CET) has got a patent for a multipurpose wall-climbing robot using duct fan mechanism for crack inspection of concrete structures.

The College of Engineering Trivandrum (CET) has got a patent for a multipurpose wall-climbing robot using duct fan mechsm for crack inspection of concrete structures.

According to CET, as compared to existing wall climbing mechsms, this gives faster movement and has a better load-bearing capacity. The robot can move on the floor as well as on the wall like an ordinary four-wheeled vehicle.

"The inspection work of huge concrete structures can be made faster and accurate using this wireless wall climbing robot instead of the tedious way for workers reaching there to inspect," said Praveen Sekhar, one of the students of the team that developed the prototype.

He said that 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 College of Engineering, Trivandrum.

"This was done as part of a final year engineering project in 2014. In 2013-14, one of the social causes bothering us was the stability of Mullaperiyar Dam. There were no low-cost mechsm available to inspect the surface of dam for cracks developed or other damages. This gave us an idea to create something which can be used to the climb the walls of the dam and captured images on a regular basis which can be processed to keep a check on the dam and also for proper reporting of its stability," Sekhar added.

Now, the team that developed the robot is exploring product commercialisation possibilities.

( With inputs from ANI )