Autonomous Inspection Robot for Power

Transmission Lines Maintenance While

Operating on the Overhead Ground Wires


Zheng Li1,2 and Yi Ruan2
1SchoolofOpticalElectrical&ComputerEngineering,UniversityofShanghaiforScienceandTechnology,China
2SchoolofMechanicalEngineering&Automation,ShanghaiUniversity,200072,Shanghai,China
Email:Li_zheng@usst.edu.cn


Abstract: This paper describes the development of a mobile robot capable of clearing such obstacles as
counterweights,anchorclamps,andtorsiontower.Themobilerobotwalksonoverheadgroundwiresin500KV
powertower.Itsultimatepurposeistoautomatetoinspectthedefectofpowertransmissionline.Therobotwith
13 motorsis composed of two arms, two wheels, two claws, two wrists, etc.Each arm has 4 degree offreedom.
Claws are alsomounted on the arms. An embedded computer based on PC/104 is chosen as the core of control
system.Visiblelightandthermalinfraredcamerasareinstalledtoobtainthevideoandtemperatureinformation,
andthecommunicationsystemisbasedonwirelessLANTCP/IPprotocol.Aprototyperobotwasdevelopedwith
carefulconsiderationsofmobility.Thenewsensorconfigurationisusedfortheclawtograsptheoverheadground
wires.Thebridgeisinstalledinthetorsiontowerfortheroboteasytocrossobstacles.Thenewpostureplanis
proposed for obstacles cleaning in the torsion tower. Results of experiments demonstrate that the robot can be
appliedtoexecutethenavigationandinspectiontasks.
Keywords:robot,powertransmissionlines,navigation,inspection

1.Introduction the robot carrying detection instruments and

power transmission line has been usually inspected
manually by workers riding in gondolas that travel
suspended from the transmission lines or watching with
telescope in the ground. In recent years, it has become
increasingly necessary to perform inspection work with
the autonomous inspection robot in power transmission
line.
The development of Expliner was presented, a robot
runningonhighvoltagelivelinesarrangedinbundlesof
1,2,or4wiresinJapan(PauloDebenest,etal.,2008).The
LineScout Technology was presented, a mobile
teleoperated robot working on live lines, up to 735 kV
and 1,000 A, at HydroQubec Research Institute in
Canada(NicolasPouliot&SergeMontambault,2008).An
obstaclenavigationcontrolstrategywasintroducedfora
inspection robot suspended on overhead ground
wires(OGWs) of power transmission lines (Ren Zhibin
andRuanYi,etal.,2008).Inspectionrobotwasdescribed
based linegrasping control with visual servo for power
transmissionline(WangLudanandWangHongguang,et
al., 2007).Aninspection robot was developed with three
arm for 110kv power transmission live lines (Fengyu
Zhou, Yibin Li,et al., 2008). A doublearms inspection
robot was developed on live lines (Xiaohui Xiao,
GongpingWu,andSanpingLi,2007).
The impact of the overhead ground wires should be
considered in the robots dynamics analysis and
controller design. The inspection tasks are performed by
rolling/crawlingalongtheoverheadgroundwires.Thus,
the coupling dynamic performance between the robot
anditsmovingpathdirectlyimpactitsmotionprecision.
Amobilerobotthatcancrawlalongtheoverheadground
wires to perform part of power line inspection tasks is
developed. This paper performs the dynamic posture
researchduringobstaclespassingprocess.Combiningthe
theory of flexible multibody and rigid multibody
dynamics, we developed the robot with updown arms
fornegotiatingthetorsiontower.
The rest of this paper is organized as follows: Section 2
describes environment of the overhead ground wires in
power tower. This is followed by mechanical
configurations in Section 3. Electrical configurations are
proposedinSection4.Themotioncontrolsystemandthe
application software are discussed in Section 5 and 6
respectively.Finally,theexperimentsshowthattherobot
can negotiate obstacles in the overhead ground wires in
therealtower.
2.EnvironmentofPowerTransmissionLines
A 500KV torsion tower is shown in Fig. 1. The detail
appearanceoftheoverheadgroundwiresisdescribedin
Fig. 1(b). The inspection robot with wheeldriven can
crawl along the overhead ground wires. The subsidiary
equipments of the overhead ground wires will act as
obstaclestoblockitsway.Anavigationsystemisneeded
torecognizeandlocatetheobstacleswithitssensors.The

InternationalJournalofAdvancedRoboticSystems,Vol.7,No.4(2010) 107
ISSN17298806,pp.111116

control system of inspection robot will plan its motions
according to the obstacle information to negotiate these
obstacles autonomously. There are three typical obstacles
attached to the overhead ground wires and 550KV power
tower. The first type of obstacle is called counterweight
which is the greatest quantity among the obstacle. The
secondtypeofobstacleisanchortowerwhichiseasyforthe
inspectionrotortocross.Thethirdtypeofobstacleiscalled
torsion tower which is difficult for the inspection rotor to
cross. Each type of obstacle has different spatial structure.
Therefore, the inspection robot should walk with the
differentmotionsequenceaccordingtothedifferentobstacle.
(a)
(b)
Fig. 1. A 500KV tower,(a) the total appearance, (b) the
overheadgroundwires
Robot
Torsion
. tower
Bridge
Anchor tower
Counterweights
(a)(b) transmitting remote control commands to the robot
Fig.2.Someobstaclesontheoverheadgroundwires,(a)
the original obstacles, (b) the bridge installed in the
torsiontower
It is not easy for inspection robot to cross the original
torsion tower in Fig. 2(a), because there are many limits
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InternationalJournalofAdvancedRoboticSystems,Vol.7,No.4(2010)
fortheinspectionrobot,suchasthemechanicalstructure
of claws, wheels, arms, etc. This paper adopted a new
method that the special bridge was installed on the
torsiontowerinFig.2(b).
3.MechanicalConfigurations
The robots mechanical structure is designed as a cable
carwhichisshowninFig.3fornavigatingonthewires.
Therobothastwoarms.Asetofwheelclawmechanism
ismountedontheendofeacharm.Therobotcanclimb
onthewireswithitsarmsandclaws.Thecontrolsystem
andtheinspectiondevicesareinstalledinthecontrolbox
which is suspended under the body of the robot. Each
armhas4DOF.Therotaryjointonthearm(JointX4and
X5)canregulatetheclawsforgraspingobjectaccurately.
The screw and nut mechanisms are applied to drive the
claws and wheels upward and downward (joint X8 and
X9).ThemechanismsofjointX1,X2andX3arethesame
as joint X4 and X5 and can make the arms or box move
forward and backward. The worm and worm gear
mechanisms are applied to drive the arms upward and
downwardinthejointX6andX7.
The control box can move along the body of the robot
which can balance the robot and improve the stability.
The robot is 1.2m long, 0.8m high and weighs 30kg
includingthecontrolboxwhichisapproximately10kg.It
can climb on the wires with the maximum inclination
angle60.
Fig.3.Themechanicalstructureoftheinspectionrobot
4.ElectricalConfigurations
4.1.TheBasicElectricalStructure
Thecriteriaspecificationsfortherobotcontrolsystemare
presented as follow, autonomous travel or motion,
automaticinspectionoftransmissionlineswhilecrossing
the towers, the reliably and robustly generating and
controller from the ground station, and satisfying the
nationalstandardforEMC.
Toachievetheabovespecifications,athreelayerscontrol
systemisproposedasshowninFig.4,whichare:
the client system for supervision and management
systemlocatedatthegroundstation(upperlayer),

ZhengLiandYiRuan:AutonomousInspectionRobotforPowerTransmissionLinesMaintenanceWhileOperatingontheOverheadGroundWires
the server system for robot control and path
planning(middlelayer),
the actor system for the motors, drive card, and
sensors(lowerlayer).
The roles of the upper layer are to receive the inspection
images in realtime, conduct the fault detection, remotely
control robot motions. The middle layer plays the role of
analyzing,distributingandcoordinatingthetasks.Itreceives
and analyses the commands from the upper layer, then
decomposes and distributes the tasks to individual lower
levelactuatorcontrollers.Undertheautonomousoperation
mode, it takes feedback information from all sensors and
makes its own decisions for planning the sequence of
operations and actuations without the upper layers
involvement.Thesequencesofcommandsfromthemiddle
layeraredirectlysenttothelowerlayeractuators.Thelower
layer acts as executor and receptor. The motor is drove by
thedrivecardsthatcommunicateeachotherwithCANopen
protocol. At the same time, the drive card communicates
withPC/104byRS232andgetstheanaloganddigitalsignal
from the sensors. The video of the camera is sent to the
compressorcardandsavedtotheharddisk.
Client
Server PC104
Actor
CANopen
Motor
Drive Card
Fig.4.Thebasicelectricalstructure
4.2.PC104
The robot is designed for crawling along the suspended
transmission lines and crossing many different types of
obstaclessothesizeandweightofthewholesystemmust
be small. So the main hardware components must be
selected carefully to take all the above factors into
consideration. In the project, an embedded computer
PC/104ischosenforthemiddlelayer.EurotechCPU1461
is selected for PC/104 as it has the characteristics of low
power,highcapability,andhighreliability.
4.3.BLDCMotor
BrushlessDCmotorofMaxonmotorisselectedtoinstall
intheinspectionrobot.BrushlessDCmotoriswiththree
phases in the stator, ironless winding system rotating,
neodymium permanent magnet, and speeds of up to 50
000rpm.
4.4.MotorDrive
MaxonmotorEPOS24/5wasappliedinthisproject,asitis
a smallsized full digital smart motion controller. Due to
the flexible and high efficient power stage the EPOS 24/5
drivesbrushedDCmotorswithdigitalencoderaswellas
brushlessECmotorswithdigitalHallsensorsandencoder.
The sinusoidal current commutation by space vector
controlofferstodrivebrushlessECmotorswithminimal
torque ripple and low noise. The integrated position,
velocity and current control functionality allows
sophisticated positioning applications. It is specially
designed being commanded and controlled as a slave
node in the CANopen network. In addition the unit can
beoperatedthroughanyRS232communicationport.
For fast communication with several EPOS devices, use
the CANopen protocol. The individual devices of a
networkarecommandedbyaCANopenmaster.
Avarietyofoperatingmodesmeansthatallkindsofdrive
and automation systems can be flexibly assembled using
positioning, speed and current regulation. The builtin
CANopen interface allows networking to multiple axis
drivesandonlinecommandingbyCANbusmasterunits.
4.5.WirelessCommunication
The NETGEAR WG102 ProSafe 802.11g Wireless Access
Point is the basic building block of a wireless LAN
infrastructure. It provides connectivity between Ethernet
wired networks and radioequipped wireless notebook
systems, desktop systems, print servers, and other
devices.Mostaccesspointsareratedbetween3050users
simultaneously.
The WG102 provides wireless connectivity with
maximum outdoor range is 15.8 km (~9.8 miles) , and
range estimation is based on two wireless nodes each
with an ANT24D18 antenna attached, associating with
eachotherat11Mbpsunderideallineofsightconditions.
4.6.VideoCompressorCard
The Eurotech CTR1475 is a realtime MPEG4 video
compressor,encoderandframegrabbermoduledesigned
to capture up to four concurrent highquality analog
video and audio streams, encode them in compressed
MPEG4orAVIformats,andsendthemtoanembedded
computeroverthe32bitPCIbus.
4.7.GPRSCard
TheEurotechCOM1480isahighlyintegratedlowpower
PC/104Plus board with advanced wireless
communicationtechnologiesandistheidealchoicefora
wide spectrum of mobile applications. It supports a
multimode Triband HSDPA/UMTS engine with data
ratesofupto7.2Mbps,inconjunctionwithaquadband
EDGE/GSM/GPRS connectivity technology with data
ratesofupto216kbps.Italsointegratesalowpower12
channelhighaccuracyGPSreceiver.Italsosupportsthird
generation(3G)digitalcellularstandards.
4.8.Sensor
Thenewsensorconfigurationisappliedtotheinspection
robot. Sensors are important for the inspection robot to
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adapt the environment in the overhead ground wires. 5.MotionControlSystem

ThesesensorsareinstalledintheinspectionrobotinFig.
5.The following points should be considered in the 5.1.TheElectricalControlSystem
choicesofsensors: Windows XP operation system and Visual C++ are
1) VisiblelightcameraandthermalinfraredCameraare installedinthePC/104.Inordertocontrolthemotor,we
both installed in the inspection robot. The robot can utilize the DLL library for EPOS drivers to write the
detect the damages of power transmission lines controlprogram.Therearesomanymotorsintherobots
equipment. The data and images detected by the robot and obstacles in the ground wires. We use ACCESS
can be transmitted to the ground base station by the databasetomanagethesedata.
wireless transmission devices. The ground base station Usually, walking on the ground wires, the robots must
can not only receive, store and display the data and identifytheobstacles,suchasdamper,anchortowerand
images but also complete realtime remote control and torsion tower. There are many expression methods for
imageprocessingsimultaneously. knowledge database. The obstacle sequence of the
2) The SICK W100L photoelectric switch series offers overhead ground wires is programmed as a table of
laser sensors in miniature housing. The small laser light ACCESSdatalibraryinTable1.
spot and the high switching frequency enable the
detection of small objects in high speed processes. The type obstacle1 obstacle2 obstacle3
small and easily visible laser light spot enables easy line1 damper anchortower damper
alignmentduringinstallation. line2 torsiontower damper damper
3) The inclination sensor module uses the DX type (DX
045DorDX008D)dualaxissensorsfordualaxismode,and Table 1. Obstacle sequence library of the overhead
providesaneconomicalandreliabletiltsensingsolutionfor groundwires
applications requiring superior Nulling capabilities with
concurrent excellent MidWide range linearity, resolution, Thereare13motorsintheinspectionrobot.Actionplanis
repeatabilityandsymmetry.Itincludestwoprogrammable composedofthesequenceofactionorders.Accordingto
levelthresholddetectorlinesthatallowtheusertosetlevel the different action, the robot can control the running
sensitivealarmsforpitchandroll. stateofthejointmotorinTable2.

Camera1 C1 C4 Camera2 Type Motor1 Motor2 Motor3 Motor13
C2 C3 Damper
Action1 a1a a2 a3 a13
C7 C8
Action2 b1 b2 b3 b13
C5 C6

Arm1 Photoelectric a.Dataofactionrange.
Arm2
Switch Table2.ActionLibraryofmotors
Inclination sensor
Therearethreekeyproblemsinnegotiatingobstacles.The
first question is how to identify the obstacle type. The
GPRS secondquestionishowtoconfirmthespaceposition.The
3G/GSM
Camera3 thirdquestionishowtobalancethecenterofgravityofthe
robot.Thesequestionscanbedealwithlasersensors,video
Fig.5.Thesensorsconfigrations
sensorsandlevelsensors.Afterthearmandclawleavethe

ground wires, they try back to grip the ground wires.

There are eight photoelectric switches,three cameras and
Actionsofgriplinearethemostimportantactions,forthey
oneinclinationsensorintheinspectionrobot.Photoelectric
directlyinfluencethesafetyandefficiencyoftherobot.
switch C1 and C2 are used for the left claws to grasp the

overheadlineaccordingtothatthetwopointsdeterminea
5.2.ThePosturePlanfortheTorsionTower
straightline.Atthesamereason,C3andC4areusedfor
We propose a new posture plan by appending the cross
therightclaw.C7andC8areappliedtoindentifyifthereis
bridge in the torsion tower. Fig.6 shows a round iron
aobstacleinthefrontoftherobot.C6andC7arearranged
appended in the torsion tower, and the six sequences of
to find the overhead line vertically when the arms are
negotiating the obstacle while the robot walking on the
movedupanddown.Camera1issetinthetopoftheleft
arm to watch the action of the right wheel and claw. bridgeline.
Simultaneity,camera 2is usedtolookover theleft wheel At first, rolling in the overhead ground wires, the robot
and claw. Camera 3 is designed to inspect the powe inspects the power transmission lines, and then stop
transmissionline.Thetiltsensorisinstalledinthecontrol running when the sensors tell the robot that the torsion
boxtomeasuretheinclinationdegreeoftherobot. towerblockitsway.Therobotclimbslikeamonkeyfrom
the overhead ground line to the bridge. Secondly, the

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ZhengLiandYiRuan:AutonomousInspectionRobotforPowerTransmissionLinesMaintenanceWhileOperatingontheOverheadGroundWires

robotwalksalongthebridgefromtheleftsidetotheright in the human machine interface which are used to control

side. Finally, the robot will scramble up the overhead the two claws how to grasp the overhead ground wires or
groundwiresagain. bridge.Theserialcommunicationwindowisusedtodebug
The most difficult action of the robot is to grasp the theprogram.
overhead ground wires. When the right claw holds the
wireandtheleftclawwanttograspthewire,SensorC1
andC2areusedtofindthewirevertically,andSensorC5
also is used to locate the wire horizontally. At the same
time, the user can watch the movement of the left claw
fromtherightcamera2.

Fig. 7. The humanmachine interface of the motion
controlsystem


6.2.VideoControl&AnalyseSoftware

Fig.6.Obstacleclearingsequenceoftheinspectionrobot
inthetorsiontower

6.TheControlSoftware

Fig.8.Thehumanmachineinterfaceofthevideocontrol
6.1.MotionControlsoftware
system
ThegroundsystemhasanotebookPCwhichisportablefor

the operator. With the humanmachine interface in the
Withthewirelessmodule,therobotsystemandtheground
groundsystem,operatorcanmonitorthestatusoftherobot,
system can communicate with each other. The users can
andteleoperatetherobotifnecessary.Thehumanmachine
controlcameraandoperatevisiblelightimagesandthermal
interfaceisprogrammedusingVC++,asshowninFig.7.
infraredimagestransmittedtothegroundsysteminFig.8.
At first, the users select the serial number of the power
Theuserscanconfigurethepathforsavepicture,GPSsignal,
transmission line, and click the display button. Then, the
etc.Throughselectionthebuttonofthetab,theusercaneasy
obstacle sequencesare generated according to the ACCESS
changethestatusmodeofrobot,video,andGPS.
data library and displayed in the list. Secondly, the users

choosewhichobstacleshouldbestartedbytherobotatthe
beginningpointintheoverheadgroundwiresandclickthe
displaybutton.Then,theactionsequencesaredisplayedin
thelist.Intheautomationoperationwindow,aftertheusers
selectwhichstepshouldbeexecutedandclicktheexecution
button,the13motorshallbestartedupaccordingtothedata
in the list of action sequences. In the surveillance window,
the user can browse the speed, current, position of the
running motor. When the robot crosses the obstacle, the
signal of the sensor shall be displayed in the measure list.
Whentherobotmeetsafailure,andtheerrorcodeshouldbe
displayintheerrorlist,regardlessofeacherror,themotorof
therobotshouldbehalted.Therearemanyauxiliarybuttons
Fig.9.Thevideoanalysesystem

111

The user can analyze the picture stored in the large
capacity hard disk in Fig. 9. The users can analyze the
defect in the live lines through visible images or the
thermal infrared images. From the thermal infrared
images, the user can get the distributing temperature of
the live lines. While controlling the pan & tilt of the
camera, the user can scan the A, B, or C phase power
transmissionlinesrespectively.
7.Experiments
(a)(b) plan is proposed to negotiate obstacles by the cross
(c)(d)
(e)(f) 3977,USA,2008,IEEE,USA.
Fig.10.Theexperimentsoftheinspectionrobot
The inspection robot was trained with the expert system
formanytimesinthelaboratorywherethetorsiontower
and anchor tower were placed to imitate the real
environment. Finally, the inspection robot was tested in
the real tower. The new method of negotiating obstacles
isproposedwiththebridgeinstalledinthetorsiontower.
Fig. 10 shows that the robot is crossing through the
500KV torsion tower in the overhead ground wires. The
ladderremainedinthetoweraftertherobotwasliftedto
the overhead ground wires from the ground. When the
experimentwasfinished,theladderwastakenawayfrom
the power tower. A bridge is installed on the torsion
tower. The robot walked along the left overhead ground
wires on the torsion tower in Fig. 10(a). The robot must
walk along the bridge if it wanted to cross the torsion
tower. The robot must hold the overhead ground wires
withtheleftclaw,movethecontrolboxtothelefttokeep
its balance, and stretch the right arm to catch the bridge
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InternationalJournalofAdvancedRoboticSystems,Vol.7,No.4(2010)
inFig.10(b).Thecontrolboxwasmovedtotheright,and
theleftarmwasleftfromtheoverheadgroundwiresand
shrank to grasp the bridge with theleft claw. When two
wheels were posed on the bridge and two claws were
relaxed,thetwowheelscanrollontheoverheadground
wires in Fig.10 (c). In the similar way, the robot reached
themiddleofthebridgeinFig.10(d)andtherightofthe
bridgeinFig.10(e).Intheend,therobotclimbedupthe
overheadgroundwiresinFig.10(f).
8.Conclusion
This paper presents the work environment of the
inspection robot in detail. According to the special
characteristicoftheoverheadgroundwires,theobstacles
areclassifiedbytheanchortower,thetorsiontower,and
damper.Therobotwith13DOFisdesignedtoimitatethe
monkeys behavior. The inspection robot is composed of
twoarms,twowheels,twoclaw,twowrists,etc.Posture
bridge in the torsion tower. The software of motion
control and defect analyse is designed with VC++. The
experiments clearly indicate the posture plan is useful
andeffectiveandtherobotcanbeappliedtoexecutethe
navigationandinspectiontasks.
9.References
Fengyu Zhou & Yibin Li,et al. (2008). Research on
autonomous negotiation action planning for110kv
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Nicolas Pouliot & Serge Montambault (2008). Geometric
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line inspection and maintenance, IEEE International
Conference on Robotics and Automation, pp. 3970
Paulo Debenest, et al.. (2008). Expliner robot for
inspection of transmission lines, IEEE International
Conference on Robotics and Automation, pp. 3978
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Ren Zhibin, Ruan Yi,et al. (2008). Control of inspection
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