Distributed control of hexapod wall climbing robot implementing Controller Area Network (CAN)
by Nkgatho Sylvester Tlale, Glen Bright, W.L. Xu
International Journal of Intelligent Systems Technologies and Applications (IJISTA), Vol. 1, No. 1/2, 2005

Abstract: Service robots have been used in tasks that require navigation of horizontal or near horizontal surfaces. Some applications require service robots that are capable of moving along a vertical plane e.g., wall painting, window washing, non-destructive testing (NDT), surveillance, etc. The controller of a wall climbing robot that has many actuators and many sensors is difficult to design because of safety issues. If a central controller is used, a failure in one part of the system can result in a failure of the complete system. This can result in the robot's safety mechanisms failing and the robot falling from the wall. This paper describes the design of a wall climbing robot that implements many actuators and sensors; the hexapod wall climbing robot. Controller Area Network (CAN) is implemented as a distributed controller of such a robot. The distributed controller is described in detail and its performance analysed.

Online publication date: Tue, 05-Jul-2005

The full text of this article is only available to individual subscribers or to users at subscribing institutions.

 
Existing subscribers:
Go to Inderscience Online Journals to access the Full Text of this article.

Pay per view:
If you are not a subscriber and you just want to read the full contents of this article, buy online access here.

Complimentary Subscribers, Editors or Members of the Editorial Board of the International Journal of Intelligent Systems Technologies and Applications (IJISTA):
Login with your Inderscience username and password:

Username:        Password:          Forgotten your password?

Want to subscribe?
A subscription gives you complete access to all articles in the current issue, as well as to all articles in the previous three years (where applicable). See our Orders page to subscribe.

If you still need assistance, please email subs@inderscience.com