Terrestrial hermit crabs which are a type of hermit crabs live on land, whereas typical hermit crabs inhabit the sea. They have\nan ability of climbing a tree vertically. Their claws allow them to hang on the tree. In this study, an outer-pipe inspection robot\nwas developed. Its locomotion mechanism was developed in imitation of the terrestrial hermit crab�s claws. It is equipped with two\nrimless wheels. Each of the spokes is tipped with a neodymium magnet, which allows the robot to remain attached to even a vertical\nsteel pipe.Moreover, the robot has a mechanism for adjusting the camber angle of the right and left wheels, allowing it to tightly grip\npipes with different diameters. Experiments were conducted to check the performance of the robot using steel pipes with different\ndiameters, placed horizontally, vertically, or obliquely. The robot attempted to move a certain distance along a pipe, and its success\nrate was measured. It was found that the robot could successfully travel along pipes with vertical orientations, although it sometimes\nfell from oblique or horizontal pipes. The most likely reason for this is identified and discussed. Certain results were obtained in\nlaboratory. Further experiments in actual environment are required.
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