Machine that can walk and climb on floors, walls and ceilings

The configuration design for a wall-climbing robot which is capable of moving on diversified surfaces of wall and has high payload capability, is discussed, and a developed quadruped wall-climbing robot, NINJA-1, is introduced. NINJA-1 is composed of (1) legs based on a 3D parallel link mechanism capable of producing a powerful driving force for moving on the surface of a wall, (2) a conduit-wire-driven parallelogram mechanism to adjust the posture of the ankles, and (3) a valve-regulated multiple sucker which can provide suction even if there are grooves and small differences in level of the wall. Finally, the data of the trial-manufactured NINJA-1, and the up-to-date status of the walking motion are shown.>