Teleoperated parallel climbing robots in nuclear installations

Purpose – The aim of this paper is to present new robotic structures that can be suitable for inspection, maintenance and dismantling tasks in nuclear facilities. Design/methodology/approach – In the first part, two types of parallel robots capable to climb through structures are presented. The kinematics of the proposed platforms is reviewed, with emphasis on the analysis of the singularities. Next section shows the control architecture and the hardware setup of the developed system. Finally, the prototypes developed are showed and some conclusions are obtained. Findings – The slave robot is a parallel structure with the ability to climb over structures and with a very high load capacity. The master device is a parallel device with special characteristics that makes easier the teleoperation of the parallel slave robot. Originality/value – The paper presents a teleoperation system based on parallel platform with 6 degrees of freedom to overcome the classical difficulties of teleoperation in nuclear facilities.