College of Engineering Trivandrum obtains patent for 'wall-climbing' robot

On November 14, the College of Engineering Trivandrum (CET) got a patent for its multipurpose all climbing robot, which could sprawl up the vertical surfaces, ceilings, and roofs using 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 a better load-bearing than the existing wall climbing mechanisms, CET confirmed in an ANI report. 

“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,” one of the students that designed the prototype told ANI. He added that the payload of the robot now available at the Electronics and Communication Department of College of Engineering could be monitored, recorded or analyzed from a distance of up to 1 km. An independent computer can also be used to operate the machine. 

Read:  Apple is done signing the iOS 14.1 to iPhones, blocks downgrades from iOS 14.1

Read: iPhone 12 Pro has proven to be better than previous iPhones for multitasking, find out

Low-cost mechanism

Speaking about the project, Shekhar said, “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 mechanism available to inspect the surface of dam for cracks developed or other damages.” Further he added, the students then got the 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.”

The wall-climbing robot can be used for adapting to situations 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 the glass façade cleaning. 

(with inputs from ANI)

Read: LG Wing release date in India announced: Details about specifications, price and more

Read: iOS 14.1 bugs: Does the latest update by Apple feature any issues?