FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a control system for automated and
programmable vertical climbing robot on ferromagnetic surfaces for measurement
and data logging of parameters such as air/gas velocity, temperature, pressure,
humidity, camera image or any parameter that can be digitally transmitted.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
In commercial applications two basic types of robots are used. First and widely
used is the industrial robot which is fixed in a position and has actuators and
effectors for manipulating or performing work on an object, such as in a
manufacturing assembly line. A second type of robot is the mobile robot which can
travel and used for remote sensing and inspection tasks. Mobile robots can work
in hazardous and hostile environments where the risk of human injury is high or
human task is tedious and time consuming.
Most mobile robots found in the prior art are limited to rolling or walking across a
floor, on a flat surface. Some prior art mobile robots have been provided with
climbing feet, giving the robot the capability of moving along a non-horizontal
surface or, in some cases, enabling it to step over objects which may otherwise
interfere with the path of the robot. For example, US 2011/0073386 A1 discloses
a climbing robot suitable for climbing a substantially vertical, inclined or
horizontal surface. The robot controller is comprised of onboard microcontroller
and motor amplifiers.
US Patent 4,993,912 a stair climbing robot and method of operation is described.
The robot includes a drive motor for driving each pair of wheels in the same
direction at a predetermined rotational velocity and a drive means is provided for
simultaneously rotating the beams at a predetermined direction. Wheel over wheel
function then is provided by a separate motor which rotates the jack shaft which
in turn rotates the wheels. This robot is controlled through a remote.
US 5,551,525 describes a climber robot that has front and rear legs joined
together by a pivoting knee joint and having pivoting ankle joints at their distal

ends. Pneumatic muscle pairs attached to each leg allow the robot to move
vertically and horizontally and make easy transitions over obstacles and from the
horizontal to vertical plane. The robot uses RS-485 driver and HC11 CPU for
control.
US 6,793,026 B1 describes a wall-climbing robot or mobility platform able to
ascend and descend various horizontal and vertical surfaces having a chassis, a
rotor rotatable with respect to the chassis, one or more prominences on the rotor,
and means for adhering to a surface attached to the prominences. The robot is
able to make a transition from horizontal travel to vertical travel. In certain
embodiments, the means for adhering to a wall is a pressure sensitive adhesive.
Multiple rotor configurations and radio-control are used for remote operation.
To address all of the drawbacks of the prior art, there is therefore a need to
develop an unique and improved control system for automated and programmable
vertical climbing mobile robot that can travel on ferromagnetic surfaces, where the
system is equipped for measurement and data logging of parameters such as air
velocity, temperature, pressure, humidity, camera image or any parameter that
can be digitally transmitted, real time data acquisition, processing and display.
OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION
An object of the invention is to overcome the aforementioned and other
drawbacks existing in prior systems.
It is therefore, the object of the present invention to propose a control system for
an automated and programmable vertical climbing robot that can climb on a
ferromagnetic surfaces for measurement and data logging of parameters such as
air/gas velocity, temperature, pressure, humidity, camera image or any other
parameter that can be measured and digitally transmitted to the control system.
Still further object of the present invention is to provide a control system
configured to facilitate real- time data capture and analysis of the parameters.

These and other objects and advantages of the present invention will be
apparent to those skilled in the art after a consideration of the following detailed
description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which a
preferred form of the present invention is illustrated.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present application discloses a control system for an automated robot
configured to vertically climb on a ferromagnetic surface. The system includes a
mobile unit 1 which further comprises a plurality of sensors 4 for real-time
sensing of a plurality of parameters, a transmitter 3 for transmitting a plurality
of signals received from the plurality of sensors 4, an encoder 5 for sensing
position of the automated robot, a plurality of motors 2 for moving the
automated robot on the ferromagnetic surface, a plurality of stoppers 6 to brake
the robot, and a plurality of forward or backward LEDs 7 to identify the robot
motion. The system further includes a control unit 11 further having a controller
12 for logging data related to the plurality of parameters and for determining
positioning of the automated robot on the ferromagnetic surface for capturing
the plurality of parameters. Furthermore, the system includes an alarm unit 15,
a power unit 8 for powering the mobile unit 1 and the control unit 11.
The above and additional advantages of the present invention will become
apparent to those skilled in the art from a reading of the following detailed
description when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE ACCOMPANYING DRAWINGS
The above brief description, as well as further objects, features and advantages,
of the present invention can be fully appreciated by reference to the following
detailed description. These features of the present invention will become more
apparent upon reference to the drawings, wherein:
Figure-1 illustrates a flow diagram of the system.

Figure-2 illustrates an overall architecture of the system according to an
embodiment of the invention.
Figure-3 illustrates details of a control unit.
Figure-4 illustrates details of mobile unit.
Figure-5 illustrates details of power unit.
Figure-6 illustrates connection diagram for motors.
Figure-7 illustrates connection diagram for encoder.
Figure-8 illustrates control system for manual and auto operation of the
automated vertical climbing robot.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
Although the disclosure hereof is detailed and exact to enable those skilled in
the art to practice the invention, the physical embodiments herein disclosed
merely exemplify the invention which may be embodied in other specific
structure. While the preferred embodiment has been described, the details may
be changed without departing from the invention, which is defined by the
claims.
It will be apparent, however, to one of ordinary skill in the art that the present
invention may be practiced without specific details of the well known
components and techniques. Further specific numeric references should not be
interpreted as a literal sequential order. Thus, the specific details set forth are
merely exemplary. The specific details may be varied from and still be
contemplated to be within the scope of the present invention. The features
discussed in an embodiment may be implemented in another embodiment.

Moreover, occasional references to the conventional systems are made in order
to better distinguish the present inventive disclosure discussed later in greater
detail. Few of the details pertaining to said assemblies are well known in the art
and therefore, are described herein only in the detail required to fully disclose
the present invention while unnecessarily obscuring the present invention. The
present invention will be described in detail below with reference to
embodiments as shown in the drawings.
The present invention relates to invention of a control system for automated and
programmable vertical climbing robot that can climb on a ferromagnetic surface
for measurement of parameters such as air/gas velocity, temperature, pressure,
humidity, camera image or any other parameter that can be measured and
digitally transmitted to the control system.
In an embodiment of the present invention, control system for vertical climbing
robot broadly consists of three units: Mobile Unit 1, Power Unit 8 and Control
Unit 11. The mobile unit 1 consists of motors 2, sensors/probes 4, transmitter
3, encoder 5, stopper 6 and LED’s 7. The power unit consists of two power
supplies 12V/10A 9 and 12V/5A 10. The control unit or the ground station
consists of PLC 12, Display 13 LED/alarm 15 and a joystick remote 16. In an
embodiment, the LED/alarm 15 is used to indicate the malfunctioning of the
robot. In the embodiment of the present invention, the control unit consists of
PLC 12, Display 13 LED/alarm 15 and a joystick remote 16. The control unit
will be placed in ground. An extension Digital I/O module 19 is also coupled
with the PLC 12 to provide flexibility to use more number of IO’s. The PLC is
connected with the 24V / 5A power supply 10 through connector C7 27.
Another power supply of 12V/10A 9 is used to supply power to motors 2 and
also to isolate PLC 12. The two high speed counters of PLC 12 are connected to
Encoder 5 signal through connector C6 25. In an embodiment, the counter
counts the encoder pulses to sense the position of the robot. The Analog Inputs
of the PLC 12 are connected to analog signal (4-20 mA) of the probes through
connectors C5 26. The digital outputs of the PLC 12 are connected with motors
2 through connector C2 22 and also to lamp and alarm through connector C3

23. The PLC 12 is also connected to a display/HMI 13 through Ethernet
connector C9 20. The PLC 12 can also be connected to a manual joystick remote
16 for manual operations through connector C1 21.
In an embodiment of the present invention, the mobile unit 1 consists of motors
2, sensors/probes 4, transmitter 3, encoder 5, stopper 6 and LED’s 7. The
probes 4 [will sense the required parameter and transmit the signal to
transmitter 3. The transmitter will convert the sensed signal into 4-20 mA
analog signal which will be fed to PLC 12. The encoder 5 is used to sense the
position of the mobile unit. As the encoder is operated on 5V DC and the power
input to the mobile unit is 24 V DC so first 24V is converted to 5 V using LM
7805 17 to give power supply to the encoder. Encoder generates 5V square wave
which before connecting to PLC 12 is converted into 24V using ICLT6
optoisolator 18. The stoppers 6 and forward/backward LED’s 7 are connected in
sync with the motors 1 through connectors C10 and C11 respectively.
In an embodiment of the present invention, two front motors 2 are connected in
parallel with two outputs of PLC 12 and other two motors 2 are connected with
other two outputs of PLC 12 in such a way that at a particular time when
switched on all motors run in same direction.
In an embodiment of the present invention, a position encoder 5 is coupled with
one of the motors 2 so that the exact position of the robot can be fed into PLC
12.
In an embodiment of the present invention, windows based tablet PC is used for
display 13. A windows based GUI can control the complete system through
display. The tablet PC communicates with the PLC 12 through OPC server.
In manual operation, the robot is moved manually on ferromagnetic surface
using joystick 16 or display 13, up or down to a predefined position and held in
a position for parameter capture. When robot stops, stoppers 6 extend forward
and its rubber pads exerting force on the ferromagnetic surface to hold the robot

firmly in the place. The parameter is captured by probes 4 connected to
transmitter 3 by cable. The transmitter transmits the parameter value to the
PLC 12 for data logging.
In automatic operation, the robot is moved automatically on ferromagnetic
surface by executing a program using a PLC 12 The robot is moved up or down
to a predefined position and held in a position for parameter capture. When
robot stops stoppers 6 extend forward and its rubber pads exerting force on the
ferromagnetic surface to hold the robot firmly in the place. The parameter is
captured by probes 4 connected to transmitter 3 by cable. The transmitter
transmits the parameter value to the PLC 12 for data logging.
The display 13 shows the real time values of the parameters captured and also
simulates the robot motion in the screen. The captured values can be analyzed
or stored as per the requirement.
The foregoing is considered as illustrative only of the principles of the invention.
Furthermore, since numerous modifications and changes will readily occur to
those skilled in the art, it is not desired to limit the invention to the exact
construction and operation shown and described. While the preferred
embodiment has been described, the details may be changed without departing
from the invention, which is defined by the claims.

We claim:
1. A control system for an automated robot configured to vertically climb on
a ferromagnetic surface, the system comprising:
a mobile unit (1) wherein the mobile unit (1) comprises:
a plurality of sensors (4) for real-time sensing of a plurality of
parameters,
a transmitter (3) for transmitting a plurality of signals
received from the plurality of sensors (4),
an encoder (5) for sensing position of the automated robot,
a plurality of motors (2) for moving the automated robot on
the ferromagnetic surface,
a plurality of stoppers (6) for braking the robot, and
a plurality of forward or backward LEDs (7) for indicating the
robot motion;
a control unit (11), wherein the control unit (11) comprises:
a controller (12) for logging data related to the plurality of
parameters and for determining positioning of the automated robot
on the ferromagnetic surface for capturing the plurality of
parameters,
an alarm unit (15) for indicating the malfunction of the
automated robot,

a power unit (8) for powering the mobile unit (1) and the control unit
(11).
2. The system as claimed in claim 1, wherein two front motors and two rear
motors of the plurality of motors (2) are operably connected in parallel to
first two outputs and other two outputs of the controller (12) respectively.
3. The system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the controller (12) is a
programmable logic controller (12).
4. The system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the controller (12) is a
programmable logic controller (12).
5. The system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the encoder (5) is operably
coupled to two high speed counters embedded in controller (12) for
determining position of the automated robot and feeding position data to
the controller (12).
6. The system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the mobile unit (1) is a movable
section and the control unit (11) and the power unit (8) are a stationary
section stationed on ground.
7. The system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the plurality of stoppers (6) and
the plurality of forward or backward LEDs (7) are operably coupled to the
controller (12) for holding the automated robot in the position for real-time
capture of the plurality of parameters.
8. The system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the control unit (11) comprises
a joystick remote (16) for manual control of the movement of the
automated robot on the ferromagnetic surface.

9. The system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the control unit (11) comprises
a display unit (13) with user interface (16) for automatically controlling the
movement of the automated robot on the ferromagnetic surface.
10. The system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the automated robot moves up
and down the ferromagnetic surface through attached magnetic wheels.