Microinspectors of pipes
Japanese companies Mitsubishi and Sumitomo and Tokyo's Matsuhita research center have built ant size microrobots. Robots are 5 mm long, 6.5 mm high, 9 mm wide and 42 g weight, can move all sides at a speed of 2 mm per second and are able to move objects that double their weight.
Microrobots have been tested in 3 cm diameter tubes with good results.
The intention of the researchers is to equip the microrobots with systems capable of detecting faults in the tubes so that they can exercise the inspection function. This type of robots could be very appropriate for the study of the piping systems of power plants – real vessels.
Nowadays these studies are carried out by technicians using microchambers that they introduce into the pipes. If the usefulness of microrobots is demonstrated, these studies could be done automatically.
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