Research on the path planning of wire pole inspection robot

Flying robot inspection is an effective way for power-line inspection purpose. In this paper, a four-rotor FROPI (Flying Robot for Overhead Power-line Inspection) is taken as an example to research the path planning of wire pole inspection. The kinetic model of FROPI is built, and a kind of inner and outer control algorithm based on classic PID control is put forward, which can be used to control the flying position and rotation angle respectively. In path planning of inspection, this paper proposed a global optimal path planning method based on Genetic Algorithm. Finally, a simulation of FROPI for 8 points inspection indicates that the control algorithm can meet the control requirements, which means the flying robot can implement inspection along an optimal path under automatic control.