Development of Painting Robot for Cage-shape Iron Pillar Supporting Train Track: Prototype Design and Basic Motion Verification

In this paper, a prototype painting robot that can paint a surface of steel material while climbing up and down an inside of a cage-type iron pillar supporting a train track is proposed. Target specifications are set based on the requirements of the painting robot, and then, the robot is designed so that each specification can be cleared. The robot consists a climbing device that climbing up and down the inside of the iron pillar, a painting arm that paints the surface of the steel material, and a paint suppling device that supplies paint to a brush. The climbing device has a leg-shaped structure, and climbs up and down inside the iron pillar while alternately gripping the steel material with an upper and lower legs. In addition, the painting arm has a 6-DOF serial link mechanism, and the brush can be appropriately posed on the surface of the target steel. The paint supply device is equipped with a uniaxial screw type mohno pump so that an appropriate amount of high-viscosity paint could be supplied to the brush. Through simple experiments, it was confirmed that each device could realize basic functions according to the design specifications.