China's Space Station Completes in-orbit Test of Pipeline Inspection Robot

By Global Times

Feb 21, 2025 07:17 PM

Taikonauts conduct an in-orbit test of a pipeline inspection robot. Photo: CCTV News

China's space station has successfully completed the in-orbit test of a pipeline inspection robot, marking the first in-orbit experiment of a specialized intravehicular robot conducted on the station, according to the China Manned Space Agency (CMSA) on Friday.

It verified key technologies and demonstrated the robot's ability to autonomously adapt and move safely in the complex pipeline environment of the space station, providing valuable experience for future practical applications.

During the test, the robot smoothly and reliably passed through a variety of pipes of different diameters, verifying that the robot autonomous motion technology had been adapted to a variety of complex pipes, according to CMSA. The robot can also be easily pulled out of the complex pipes after being turned off, which verifies the safety of its passive compliance mechanism.

During the in-orbit experimental process, ground personnel monitor the robot's position, current, contact force, and other status data in real-time through ground support station software, continuously tracking the robot's movement to assist taikonauts in completing in-orbit operations. By analyzing the acquired data, ground personnel evaluate the experiment's results and provide a basis for subsequent experiments.

As robots move inside the pipes, they need to ensure that the contact force between the robot and the pipe wall is adaptable to changes in pipe diameter. Additionally, they must not become stuck in the pipes in case of unexpected situations, which would pose a major challenge to their operational safety.

The design of the pipe robot was inspired by the tube feet of echinoderms, such as starfish, sea urchins, and sea cucumbers, which contract inside the body when at rest and extend outward during movement. This concept led to the design of a combined active and passive leg scissor mechanism for telescopic movement.

The passive mechanism of the pipeline robot allows the robot leg to quickly adjust its length according to the pipe diameter to adapt to changes. The active mechanism controls the pressure between the robot foot and the pipe wall in real time to ensure that it is in reliable contact with the pipe wall, so that the robot has enough forward momentum.

It is able to not only adapt to the complex space station pipeline, but also ensure the safety of the space station pipeline, solving the two major problems of autonomous adaptation to the complex environment of the space station pipeline and movement safety.

The robot also adopts a modularized structure with two heads and two tails symmetrically located at the front and back, with 23 degrees of freedom and equipped with various types of sensors such as position and force, according to CMSA.

Global Times