Flying Robot Developed for Skyscraper Maintenance

Human workers have traditionally performed inspections and maintenance on skyscrapers using gondola systems, which can be dangerous and costly. An intelligent, flying robot created by researchers at the Shenyang Institute of Automation of the Chinese Academy of Sciences appears to be a promising alternative, Sci Tech Daily reports. Their creation was presented the 2019 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS 2019), an international conference on robotics and intelligent systems held from November 4-8, 2019, in Macao, China.

The robot can avoid obstacles and jump over grooves on wall surfaces. It can also conduct interactive operations while in flight. Researchers designed the robot so that the system’s contact force can be controlled precisely without any force sensors.