Expliner – toward a practical robot for inspection of high-voltage lines

Abstract

Preventive maintenance of high-voltage transmission power lines is a dangerous task, but the obstacles mounted on the lines have so far prevented the automation of this task. Expliner aims to overcome such obstacles by controlling actively the position of its center of mass, thus changing its configuration as needed when moving on the power lines. This work presents the design of Expliner and results of field experiments performed with very high voltages to prove the effectiveness of the proposed concept.