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Wall Climbing Cleaner Robot

Technical Report · April 2022

DOI: 10.13140/RG.2.2.30861.00486

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 Project Report of
WALL CLIMBING CLEANER ROBOT
Group - 3 Section - B

Group Members
ID Name

190108075 Pranto Kumar Shil

190108078 Md. Muib Hossain Antor

190108091 Md. Asiful Islam

190108097 Md. Nazmul Hasan

190108100 Sk Al Nahian Samin

Course No: ME 3110

Course Title: Instrumentation and Measurement Sessional

AHSANULLAH UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

Department of Mechanical and Production Engineering
 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
We would like to express our deepest appreciation to all of those who provided us the support
to complete this project. A special gratitude to our respected course teachers Mr. Salauddin
Omar (Lecturer, Dept. of MPE, AUST), Mr. Sakib Hossain Khan (Lecturer, Dept. of MPE,
AUST), Mr. Md. Shaumik Rahman Ayon (Lecturer, Dept. of MPE, AUST), Mr. Maruf Md
Ikram (Lecturer, Dept. of MPE, AUST) whose stimulating suggestion and encouragement,
helped us to coordinate our project. We have to appreciate for their supervision and guidance
during the project.
Additionally, we would like to acknowledge with much appreciation to Md. Shoriful Islam
Talukder (B.Sc in EEE, 2017-2022, NSU) for providing us the crucial suggestions about
electronics equipment. Last but not the least, many thanks to the authors and creators of the
resources that help us to achieve our goal.

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 ABSTRACT
This project report is on a wall climbing cleaning robot that is designed to cater the demand of
high rise building maintenance where human involvement is dangerous. A wall a robot must
need a mean to cling on a vertical surface. Propeller thrust force is considered for designing
the robot as a mean to cling on a vertical surface for this project. The thrust force must be
sufficient enough to hold the whole body of the robot on a vertical surface. A brushless DC
motor is selected to produce the required RPM to rotate the propeller for the thrust force. For
the movement on the surface of the wall, the robot uses four rubber wheels which are connected
to four gear motors that can move at any direction while subjected to the propeller thrust force.
These gear motors are able to generate enough torque to move the robot on the wall. A suitable
Li-Po battery is used as a power supply for the whole robot. Since it is a remote control robot
a very precise coding is done to control all the motors through a motor driver and an Arduino
Nano. The chassis of the robot plays a very important role. It will be subjected to deformation
and the chassis will also have to be light weight. Aluminum polymer Composite Material is
used to meet all the requirements. A custom cleaning mechanism is designed to serve the
cleaning purpose. A set of springs are integrated into this mechanism in such way that it will
engage on operator’s command. This mechanism is designed such in a way that it does a
negligible interference to the thrust force and its components. The cleaning mechanism is
driven by a servo motor. The wheels are set in such a way that the outer periphery of the front
wheels will be slightly outside of the chassis so that it can climb on a vertical surface without
any external assistance.

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 TABLE OF CONTENT

CHAPTER DETAILS PAGE NO

Chapter 01: Introduction 5-9
1.1 - Basic Information 5
1.2 - Project Objective 5
1.3 - Reasons for Choosing the Project 5
1.4 - Review of other Similar Project 6
1.5 - Different Aspects or Features of this Project 7
1.6 - Literature Review 8-9
Chapter 02: Design and Construction 10 - 19
2.1 - Methodology and Planning 10
2.2 - CAD Drawing and Assembly 11-12
2.3 - Details of Core Components 13-18
2.4 - Circuit Diagram 19
Chapter 03: Working Methodology 20 - 23
3.1 - Illustration of Working Methodology 20
3.2 - Layout of Robot Controlling Remote 21
3.3 - Working Procedure 22-23
Chapter 04: Experimentation and Calculation 24 - 28
4.1 - Electronic Speed Controller (ESC) Selection 24
4.2 - Condition for Clinging on Vertical Surface 24-25
4.3 - Maximum Mass of Robot can be Clung on Different Surface 25-26
4.4 - Chassis Material Selection 27-28
4.5 - Torque and Force Calculation of Gear Motor 28
Chapter 05: Result and Discussion 29
5.1 - Objectives Completed and How 29
5.2 - Objectives Not Achieved 29
5.3 - Limitations 29
5.4 - Future Improvements 29
Chapter 06: Conclusion 30
Chapter 07: References 31
Chapter 08: Appendix 32 - 36
8.1 - Programming Code 32-36

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 Chapter 01: Introduction
1.1 - Basic Information
The development of a robot which can move on the vertical surface that is intended for cleaning
the vertical surface. The project is about designing a wall climbing cleaning robot that climbs
vertical surface of plane or rough walls or glasses and cleans the surface.
These can be achieved in various way. By considering different points of view, thrust force
based wall climbing robot is preferred to construct for this project. For cleaning mechanism,
there is a bunch of options are appeared in mind. But operational condition and the complexity
in working principle eliminate most of them. So, a custom cleaning mechanism has been
installed on this robot.
The robot is manually controlled by an operator who controls the movements of thrust speed
and engage or disengage the cleaning mechanism. To stuck on vertical surfaces, this robot uses
thrust force that is provided by a propeller which is powered by a three-phase brushless DC
motor.
For movement on the vertical surface, the robot has a set of four wheels and each of them are
connected to a high torque gear motor to provide the power to move while subjected to thrust
force.

1.2 - Project Objectives

 Design and fabricate a robot that can climb and clean vertical surface.
 Construct a custom cleaning mechanism that puts less amount of force against thrust
force as the robot will mainly hold itself on the wall by thrust force.
 Build a robot that can climb faster than the suction based climbing robot.

1.3 - Reasons for Choosing the Project

In modern cities, on high-rise buildings the windows and glasses are cleaned manually by
human workers. But there are many circumstances where human interactions might be
dangerous. There are also many places where it’s quite difficult for human workers to reach
some places on a vertical surfaces.
So, to minimize the danger and ease of work we can use a robot that can work on vertical
surfaces and can clean or do certain operations where human involvement is dangerous or very
difficult.
Besides those this technology can be used in various other purpose. Wall painting, delivering
goods, monitoring are some of them. Considering these scopes this project is chosen to meet
these needs.

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1.4 - Review of other Similar Project [ Back to : Subchapter 5.4 ]
In this section, some previous projects on wall climbing robots and their analysis are explained.
 On May 9, 2014 a project on wall climbing robots was done by Ayyagari D P Prudvi
Raj and Devidutta Nayak. The main objective of that project was to recognize the
outline and movement arranging of a robot with the capability to get on vertical
surfaces. The project utilized kinematic display and headway calculation as major
aspects of the robot. It mimicked the headway of a reptile and could get on even and
smooth dividers. It actually utilized suction to stick on a vertical surface. The outline
and movement arranging empowered it to climb and move on risky surfaces and to stay
static for a long amount of time. It had four legs and a number of knee joints which was
designed by following Biped mechanism.
The application of this robot was _
 To give military insights on a military operation.
 To be utilized for unmanned breadths of unfriendly territories and serve as a
stage for convey guns and explosives.
 To be utilized within development to indicator back the advancement or state of
different operations being executed at hazardously abnormal amounts [1].
 Another project was done on wall climbing robot on May 30, 2021 by Manish Donode,
Shubham Bramhankar, Mohammad Meraj Ansari, Sabbir Ahmad, Bharat Chede and
Swapnil Choudhary. The project was about a robot, having capability that it can stick
on a vertical as well as inclined surface and can easily move over the surface. The
targeted capability to stick with surface can be achieved by suction cups. Suction cups
create a vacuum pressure used to stick with vertical or inclined surface.
For movement(climbing)of robot it is necessary that’s one of suction cup should release
& that arrangement is obtained by developing the structure such that in which one frame
is used to hold the robot to wall & other for climbing (vertical movement of robot). The
motion of the other frame is carried out by providing rack & pinion type mechanism.
The whole action is controlled by an Arduino and the commands sending on the Zig-
bee through a mobile.
The robot moves on glass by two-wheel locomotion mechanism with holing the body
on the surface using a suction cup vacuumed by a pump. The control system which
included traveling direction controller using accelerometer and traveling distance
controller using rotary encoder and wheel sensors were installed for autonomous
operation.
The robot was designed for application in _
 Wireless/wired video survey alliance.
 Consumer applications (window cleaning and painting).
 Inspections (building, aircraft & bridges, Pipes) etc.
In this project of designing a wall climbing robot, a propeller thrust force and a set of four
rubber tired wheels are used to provide extra frictional support to stick on vertical surfaces.
Unlike other robots, this robot does not rely on suction cup or vacuum cup. A brushless DC
motor with a propeller fan is the primary component that provided the thrust. To prevent the
wheels from moving itself and to prevent any kind of interference from the thrust force, each
of the wheels were connected to a high torque gear motor. For this reason, the movement of
the robot is possible only when the operator allows it [2].

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 1.5 - Different Aspects or Features of this Project [ Back to : Subchap 5.1 / Subchap 5.3]
The main uniqueness of this project is it has a custom cleaning mechanism installed under the
chassis of the robot. It is specially designed to clean mainly smooth surface for this project.
Also it is faster than the vacuum suction based climbing robot in the case of climbing and
cleaning.
Cleaning Mechanism used in this Project:
As it has already known that the robot which has been fabricated for this project is stuck with
the vertical surface with the help of thrust force generated by the propeller. Certain amount of
thrust force produced by the propeller of the robot is barely enough for this hold on the surface
with lower frictional co-efficient like white board. For this case, all amount of the thrust force
is important.
If a cleaning device directly touches with vertical surface with amount of force applying on
that, it will directly subtract the thrust force. This could be a reason of falling from the vertical
surface of the robot. So, a cleaning mechanism is need which will mitigate as less thrust force
possible.
While climbing up on the wall, the four gear motor have to produce high torque to surpass both
gravitational force and the inertia due thrust force. In this situation, if a part of the robot always
touches the surface, it will create fictional force in the opposite direction of the motion. It could
hamper the vertical motion of the robot. By considering this, it should keep in mind that the
device might engage on the surface when necessary while constructing the cleaning
mechanism.
By considering the above possible conditions, a custom cleaning mechanism has been
designed, fabricated and installed under the chassis of the robot. For minimizing the thrust
reduction, the mechanism has four springs which has been arranged in such a way that it could
absolve the reaction force generates due to the engagement of the cleaning device on the
surface. Meanwhile, it makes the cleaning process smooth and sharp. The spring constant of
these spring is very low.
The outer structure is fabricated by 5mm and 3 mm PVC board. The cleaning mechanism
doesn’t touch with the surface all the time of climbing. I could be engaged and disengaged by
the operator while needed to clean the surface. This increases the efficiency of the robot. A 5
(Five) cm width area can clean with a single wipe because the part that cleans the surface is 5
cm wide.

Figure 1.5.1: Solidworks design of Cleaning Mechanism Figure 1.5.2: Actual Fabricated of Cleaning Mechanism

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1.6 - Literature Review [ Back to : Subchapter 5.4 ]
In order to make this project more efficient and cost effective, we have studied some literature
regarding wall-climbing robots. In this section, some previous literatures and their analysis
procedure is explained briefly.
 On December 29, 2020 a paper was published by Peng Liang, Xueshan Gao, Qingfang
Zhang, Rui Gao, Mingkang Li, Yuxin Xu and Wei Zhu on Design and Stability
Analysis of a Wall-Climbing Robot Using Propulsive Force of Propeller. On that
article a dual propeller wall-climbing robot was introduced that used the reverse thrust
of the propeller as the adsorption force. The was developed to replace humans in some
tasks such as bridge pier inspection, glass exterior wall cleaning, anti-terrorism
investigation, ship welding cleaning, and fire dangerous goods testing. The robot was
composed of a front and rear platform frame, a front wheel drive system, a rear wheel
driven system, two rotor power drive unit, a hinge connection unit, a control module,
and a communication module. The robot was symmetrically distributed in structure
and the adsorption force was symmetrically distributed before and after so that it could
adapt to the surface of a variety of different media materials and achieve stable
adsorption and movement of a variety of wall surfaces. The adsorption phenomenon
can be compared to that of a reverse thrust of a propeller aircraft. The robot had a set
of four wheels that helped it to move forward. Interestingly, the forward movement
power of the robot came from the combined action of the propeller reverse thrust
component and the front wheel driving force. No extra motors or electrical devices
were used to assist its movement. But a pair of DC drive motors were used on the two
front wheels that helped the robot to steer by controlling the speed of the wheels. The
rotor power is driven by the paddles installed on the brushless motor, and the brushless
motor is installed on the connected fixed frame. The angle of the rotor is adjusted by
the steering gear, and the rotor is fixed on the front and back moving platform,
respectively [3] .
 Another paper was published on January 8, 2020 titled “Design and Control of a Wall
Cleaning Robot with Adhesion-Awareness” by M. A. Viraj J. Muthugala, Manuel
Vega-Heredia, Rajesh Elara Mohan and Suresh Raj Vishaal. On that paper a wall
climbing robot was introduced that was a differential drive robot developed for wall
cleaning, with vacuum-based adhesion. The robot was developed to work in the
presence of water and cleaning fluids. The robot could adhere to a wall and navigate
on it without the support of additional infrastructure, which is one of the major
benefits of a vacuum-based adhesion mechanism. The vacuum system generated
friction between the cups and the wall surface. Another system used to adhere to the
robot was a pair of circular brushes that separate the vacuum chamber from the
environment. Moreover, the cups and the brush system together worked as the
sealing mechanism of the vacuum chamber. To generate the suction, two brushless
motor blowers (“BLW”) with a high-efficiency 8 KPa capacity were used. The robot
had two 75 mm diameter rubber wheels. The system has been designed to remain
adhered to the wall even with losses, since it is intended to operate on different sorts
of walls, including surfaces with irregularities. To realize this, the power of the
impeller motors was varied automatically to adapt the suction in the vacuum
chamber. A pressure sensor was in the vacuum chamber to measure the pressure
difference to take necessary control actions. Cleaning was carried out utilizing
brushes on the bottom of the robot in contact with the wall. In the same way, these
prevent water from coming directly into contact with the turbines through which air
with a high degree of humidity passes but without the ability to wet the robot’s inner

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 little circles. The proposed control strategy to improve the safety and reliability of a
wall cleaning robot based on adhesion-awareness had been incorporated into the
developed Wall-C robot. The thresholds of pressure difference that should be
maintained in the robot were determined experimentally by observing the robot
behavior with different parameter settings [4] .
After studying literature papers, we have learnt many important facts to design a wall climbing
cleaning robot. In our project, we used the reverse propeller thrust stuck and climb a vertical
surface for being more cost effective than a vacuum based wall climbing robot. For the cassis
of our robot, we used ACP (Aluminum Composite Panel) for its resistance to deformation as
well as being light weight. Instead of suction based movement or force component assisted
movement, we used high torque gear motors for movement of the robot. The gear motors also
assist in stability of the robot so that it can stay on the surface steadily. The movement is only
possible when the operator allows it. For using gear motors and reverse thrust propeller, this
robot can operate on both rough and plane surfaces. There is also no need of extra sensors for
this robot for the same reason. For cleaning, a custom made cleaning mechanism was designed
for this robot. There are two pair of springs inside of the cleaning mechanism. The cleaning
mechanism is engaged only when cleaning is necessary. The spring configuration and their
positions in the mechanism prevents it from causing any kind of unnecessary interference in
the thrust force. We choose this custom made cleaning mechanism over the vacuum system of
cleaning because it is much more cost efficient and far less complex than the vacuum cleaning
method. This also weights less than a vacuum cleaning.

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 Chapter 02: Design and Construction
2.1 - Methodology and Planning
A Flow Chart and a Gantt Chart of the Methodology and Planning adopted in approaching the
design and to fabricate the final product are as below:

1. Group 2. Project 3. Literature 4. Components

Formation Selection and Review Design
Proposal

7. Circuit 6. Fabrication 5. Selection of

8. Coding
Design of Parts Components

9. Fabrication 10. Data 11. Calibration

and Assembly Accusation and Testing

Figure 2.1.1: Flow Chart of Methodology and Planning

Task Weeks 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12
Work
1 Project Selection and Proposal
2 Literature Review
3 Selection of Components
4 Components Design
5 Fabrication of Parts
6 Circuit Design
7 Coding
8 Fabrication and Assembly
9 Data Accusation
10 Calibration and Testing

Figure 2.1.2: Gantt Chart of Methodology and Planning

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2.2 - CAD Drawing and Assembly
Here the Solidworks assembly, actual assembly and the Solidworks design of the core
components are as below:

Figure 2.2.1: Solidworks Assembly of Robot

Figure 2.2.2: Actual Assembly of Robot

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 Fig 2.2.3: Chassis Fig 2.2.4: Cleaning Mechanism Fig 2.2.5: BLDC Motor

Fig 2.2.6: Arduino Nano Fig 2.2.7: Motor Driver Fig 2.2.8: Gear Motor

Fig 2.2.9: Bluetooth Module Fig 2.2.10: Wheel Fig 2.2.11: Servo Motor

Fig 2.2.12: LiPo Battery Fig 2.2.13: Breadboard Fig 2.2.14: Button

Fig 2.2.15: Electronic Speed Controller

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2.3 - Details of Core Components
 List of All components and respective mass:

No Component Quantity Total Mass (gm)

Chassis 1 139.0
1
Wheel 4 77.6
2
N20 Gear Motor 4 38.8
3
Breadboard 2 66.6
4
BLDC Motor 1 50.0
5
Propeller 1 6.0
6
Motor Driver 1 26.0
7
Arduino Nano 1 7.0
8
Bluetooth Module 1 3.5
9
Battery 1 177.5
10
ESC 1 28.0
11
Servo 1 9.0
12
Motor Mount 5 15.0
13
Button 1 7.0
14
Cleaning Mechanism + Wire + - 57
15 Fasteners + battery shield+ Others
708 gm
Overall Approximate Mass

Figure 2.3.1: Overall Mass of the robot

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1. Chassis:
Aluminum Composite Panel (ACP) has been used as chassis Material because of its light-
weight and high bending resistance. 4mm thick panel is chosen. It is made up of aluminum
composite material (ACM), which contains two thinly coated aluminum sheets. Being
comprised of two distinct materials that is metals and non-metal, as aluminum is a metal and
polyethylene plastic is a nonmetal, it overcomes the limitations and the drawbacks of the
original material. The chassis weight is approximately 139 gram. It has a length of 254mm,
width is 198mm, height is 4mm. There is a central circle with a diameter of 6 inch. Two
12.7mm or half inch bar thick coming from the periphery intersect with each other in the middle
of the circle and divide it into 4 equal quadrants. This design has done to minimize the
deformation.

Figure 2.3.2: Chassis

2. BLDC Motor:
A Brushless DC Electric Motor (BLDC) is an electric motor powered by a direct current
voltage supply and commutated by an electronic commutator continuously switches the DC
current through the windings, and thus switches the magnetic field too. This way, the rotor can
keep rotating as long as the motor is powered. An A2212/6T 2200KV brushless motor has been
used in this project. Here A2212 is an indication of motor’s structural properties. It
means 22mm motor diameter, 12mm motor shaft height. 6T represents 6 turns per pole.
2200KV means if 1V supply is given to the motor, it will rotates 2200 times in one minute.

Figure 2.3.3: Brushless DC Motor

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3. Propeller:
A device for propelling an aircraft or boat, consisting of a shaft with radiating blades that are
placed so as to thrust air or water in a desired direction when spinning. The reason behind using
this in this project to generate thrust force which allows the robot stick on the wall. A 6 inches
propeller has been attached with the BLDC.

Figure 2.3.4: Propeller

4. Electronic Speed Controller (ESC):

ESC or an Electronic Speed Controller controls the brushless motor movement or speed by
activating the appropriate MOSFETs to create the rotating magnetic field so that the motor
rotates. The higher the frequency or the quicker the ESC goes through the 6 intervals, the higher
the speed of the motor will be. Though a 30A ESC is used but a 50A or 80A ESC would be
more appropriate considering the specification of the BLDC that has been used in the project.

Figure 2.3.5: Electronic Speed Controller

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5. Arduino Nano:
Arduino Nano is a small, compatible open-source electronic development board based on an
8-bit AVR microcontroller. Two versions of this board are available, one is based on
ATmega328p, and the other on Atmega168. ATmega328p has been applied in this project.
There are 14 digital pins on board which is used to connect external component. 6 analog pins
on board that is used to measure voltage in a range from 0 to 5V. Vin pin inputs voltage to the
Arduino board when using an external power source (6-12V). 5V and 3.3V pin produce 5V
and 3.3V respectively by voltage regulator. Two ground pins are available on the board. There
are as many other pins with different functionality.

Figure 2.3.6: Arduino Nano

6. Bluetooth Module:
This module gives the Arduino board the possibility to communicate with the computer, laptop
or even telephone via Bluetooth. HC-05 Bluetooth module is connected with the Arduino Nano
for this project. The working voltage is 5V and the signal covering range is 10 meters of this
module.

Figure 2.3.7: Bluetooth Module

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7. Motor Driver:
A Motor Drive is a electronic system that includes an electric motor and drives the machine.
Generally, it controls the speed, torque, directions .When we need to control the motor using a
controller, we need a motor driver. For this project, a L298N H-Bridge motor driver has been
connected. This L298N Motor Driver Module is a high power motor driver module for driving
DC and Stepper Motors. This module consists of an L298 motor driver IC and a 78M05 5V
regulator. L298N Module can control up to 4 DC motors, or 2 DC motors with directional and
speed control.

Figure 2.3.8: Motor Driver

8. Gear Motor:
Four N20 12V 110RPM gear motor are attached on the robot. This is a DC Mini Metal Gear
Motor, ideal for making robots .Light weight, high torque and low RPM. Fine craftsmanship,
durable, not easy to wear. With excellent stall characteristics, can climb hills easily. For this
project, these motor are the main components in climbing the vertical surface by generating
high torque.

Figure 2.3.9: Gear Motor

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9. Servo Motor:
Servo motors are high torque motors which are commonly used in robotics and several other
applications due to the fact that it’s easy to control their rotation. Servo motors have a geared
output shaft which can be electrically controlled to turn one (1) degree at a time. A MG90S 9g
servo motor is mounted on the cleaning mechanism of the robot. Overall weight of the servo is
around 9 grams and its stall torque 2.0kg/cm (4.8V). It has 180 degree rotational range.

Figure 2.3.10: Servo Motor

10. Battery:
A lithium polymer battery, or more correctly lithium-ion polymer battery is a rechargeable
battery of lithium-ion technology using a polymer electrolyte instead of a liquid electrolyte.
High conductivity semisolid (gel) polymers form this electrolyte. A 2200mAh 11V 3S 20C Li-
Po battery is used as power source in this project. It has 3 cell. The full charge voltage is 12.7,
rated voltage is 11.1 and continuous discharge rate is 20C.

Figure 2.3.11: Li-Po Battery

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2.4 - Circuit Diagram
The schematic circuit diagram of this Wall Climbing Cleaner Robot is as follow:

Figure 2.4.1: Schematic Circuit Diagram of Wall Climbing Cleaner Robot

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 Chapter 03: Working Methodology
3.1 - Illustration of working Methodology
The Block Diagram of working methodology of Wall Climbing Cleaner Robot fabricated for
this project are given below:

Data
Transmitted Data
over Received
bluetooth over
bluetooth
Bluetooth Receiver
Smart (HC-05 Bluetooth Module)
Phone
App Power Source
Regulated Input (2200mAh 11.1V Li-Po)
I/P Signal
5V

Micro Controller I/P

(Arduino Uno) 12V I/P
12V
Regulated
O/P Output
5V Output Signal
Signal

Electronic Speed
Motor Driver
Controller
Regulated (L298N) (30 A)
I/P
Output 5V
Signal O/P
O/P O/P O/P
O/P

Servo Gear Gear Gear Gear Brushless

Motor Motor Motor
Motor Motor Motor
(MG90S) (2200KV)

Figure 3.1.1: Illustration of Working Methodology of the Robot

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 3.2 - Layout of Robot Controlling Remote
The following Layout of our Robot Controlling Remote has been designed in RemoteXY
website. It is an online open platform where developer can design and customize his own
unique graphical user interface (GUI) to control Arduino via smartphone or tablet. The GUI
runs on the phone or tablet by RemoteXY application. Our graphical interface has been
designed to:
i. Control the direction of the Robot
ii. Control the RPM of the BLDC motor
iii. Engaging and Disengaging Cleaning Mechanism
iv. Turn off and Turn on the whole controlling system

Controlling System Direction Control Joystick

On/Off of
Joystick Centering
Button Robot
Button

RPM Control Slider

of
BDLC motor
Cleaning Mechanism
Engage and Disengage
Button

Figure 3.2.1: Layout of Robot Controlling Remote

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3.3 – Working Procedure [ Back to : Subchapter 5.1 ]
The working procedure of this Wall Climbing Cleaner Robot is explained step by step and the
visuals of relative working action are as follow:

Steps Procedure Visual Representation

1 There is a push type on-off button which use to
connect or disconnect the motor driver with the
12V of the Li-Po battery. As the Arduino’s 5V
connection comes from the motor driver and
Bluetooth module gets power by the Arduino. So
by turning on this button, approximately full
system gets power except ESC. Because the ESC
is directly connected with the main 12 V of Li-Po.
2 After turning on the switch, the red indication
light of the robot turns into the green after a while.
The green light indicates that the robot is ready to
operate.

3 While the green light is on, the android

RemoteXY application need to open and connect
it to our robot’s Bluetooth. Then the turn on
button of our GUI need to turn on to use other
controlling functionality of the remote designed
to control the robot. By using joystick of the
controlling layout, the robot is controlled and
moved it to the climbing point.

4 The wheels of the robot have been set in such a

way, so that it can climb up itself to the initial
climbing position. For this, the joystick only need
to slide in forward driving position to set it on the
initial climbing position

5 After setting on the initial climbing position, the

operator slide up the RPM control slider of
controlling remote. By sliding up, operator
increases the RPM of the BLDC motor. It
increases the thrust force. The operator increases
it until the robot stuck the wall properly.

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 Steps Procedure Visual Representation
6 After the operator think that that the robot has
clung with the vertical surface properly, he moves
it on the vertical surface with the direction control
joystick. Then he moves it to the cleaning point
of the vertical surface

7 After reaching to the point which need to be

cleaned, the cleaning mechanism is engaged by
the operator by pressing the Engage-Disengage
button of the controlling GUI. After engaging the
button, operator need to wait until the indication
light turns into blue from green. The blue light
indicates that the cleaning mechanism has been
engaged on the surface and ready to clean.

8 Then the operator simply move the robot over the

point which need to be cleaned. The cleaning
device simply wipes such type of dirt which can
be cleaned by the cleaning device. Thus, the
cleaning is happened

9 After completing the cleaning, the robot is

climbed down carefully by the operator.

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 Chapter 04: Experimentation and Calculation
4.1 - Electronic Speed Controller (ESC) Selection [ Back to : Subchap 5.3 / Subchap 5.4 ]
 Calculating load current of the BLDC A2212/6T 2200KV 3 phase induction motor:
From the specification of this BLDC,
Power, P = 239W
Assuming Power Factor, Cosφ = 0.8
Measured line to line voltage of 3 phase connection, Vline = 7.95 V
Load current draw by BLDC motor, Irms.load = P ( 3 * Vline * Cosφ )

= 239 ( 3 * 7.95 * 0.8 )

= 54.72 A
Hence, we need at least 50A ESC to run our robot properly. But due to the unavailability, we
used a 30A ESC instead. For this, while running the BLDC, the ESC generating excessive heat
that why we get a short running time.

4.2 - Condition for Clinging on Vertical Surface

 Measuring the thrust force generating by the propeller:
Firstly, the BLDC motor attached with a six inches propeller was placed on the weight
machine and rotated it near to full angular speed. The BLDC is connected through a
30A ESC with 12V 2200mAh Li-Po battery. The reading measured from the weight
machine was 917 gm.
Therefore the thrust force generated by the propeller, FThrust = (917/1000) Kg * 9.81m/s2
= 8.99577 N

By applying static equilibrium equation

horizontally,
( + ) Σ Fx = 0
 Fthrust - Fnormal = 0
Therefore, Fthrust = Fnormal ..........( i )
By applying static equilibrium equation x
vertically,

( + ) Σ Fy = 0
 Ffriction – mg = 0 Assuming,static co-efficient
 Ffriction = mg of friction, µs = 0.8
 µs . Fnormal = mg
Figure 4.2.1: Free-body diagram of
 µs . Fthrust = mg [ from eq. i ]
the wall climbing robot during stuck
Therefore, Fthrust = mg/µs on the wall (static condition)

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 In sense, if thrust force is greater than mg/µs then the body should be more static. Hence,
Fthrust ≥ mg/µs
So, m ≤ ( Fthrust . µs ) / g
=> m ≤ (8.99577 * 0.8) / 9.81
=> m ≤ 0.733 kg
∴ m ≤ 733 gm
According to this calculating we have to pack up our Wall climbing cleaner robot’s overall
mass within 733 gm.

4.3 - Maximum Mass of Robot can be Clung on Different Surface

 On White Board

Ffriction
Fnormal

75.9cm
θ
Ftendency

mg
θ

94.4 cm

Figure 4.3.1: Experiment of determining the static frictional coefficient of rubber tyre on
white board

ME-B Group-3 25 | P a g e
Friction Force ∝ Normal Reacion Force
 Ffriction = µs * Fnormal
 µs = Ffriction / Fnormal
 µs = mg sinθ / mg cosθ
 µs = tanθ
 µs = 79.9 / 94.4
Therefore, µs ≈ 0.80402
Hence, static friction co-efficient of rubber tyre on white board is approximately
0.80402

Probable mass can be clung when the vertical surface is a white board,

From 4.2,
m ≤ ( Fthrust * µs ) / g
 m ≤ ( 8.99577 N * 0.80402 ) / 9.81 m/s2
 m ≤ 0.73729 Kg
Therefore, m ≤ 737.29 gm
According to this calculation, we have to pack up our Wall climbing cleaner robot’s overall
mass within 737.29 gm while clinging on white board surface.

 On Dry Concrete Surface:

From 4.2, Fig 4.3.2: Climbing on Dry Concrete

m ≤ ( Fthrust * µs ) / g
 m ≤ ( 8.99577 N * 1 ) / 9.81 m/s2
 m ≤ 0.917 Kg
 m ≤ 917 gm Fig 4.3.2: Static frictional
According to this calculation, we have to pack up our Wall Climbing Co-efficient of various matter
Cleaner robot’s overall mass within 917gm while clinging on dry on various surface [5]
concrete surface.

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4.4 - Chassis Material Selection
We have to select such type of chassis material which has certain amount of bending moment
to resist bending of chassis.

Fthrust
Here, L = (3.34+3+3+3.34) inch
= 12.68*0.0254 m
= 0.3134 m

Assuming this case is with in simply supported beam with constant cross-sectional area :
Moment produced due to thrust force Fthrust ,
MC = Fthrust * L / 4
= 8.99577 * 0.3134 / 4
= 0.7049 Nm
So, the moment produce due to thrust force is 0.7049 Nm

Now determining resistive internal bending Here,

moment of ACP material,
Width, b = 1.4 cm = 0.014 m
M./ I = σb / y Thickness, h = 4 mm = 0.004 m
 M = σb * I / y Moment of inertia, I = bh3 /12 = 7.467x10-11 m4
 M = (σb * bh3 /12) / (b/2) Distance from neutral axis, y = 0.014/2 = 0.007 m
 M = (145x106) * ( 7.467x10-11 / 0.007)
 M = 1.55 Nm
σb = 145 MPa [ Source : https://www.scribd.com/document/466061042/DESIGN-
OF-ACP-SHEET ]

ME-B Group-3 27 | P a g e
In sense, if,
MC > M : then it should bend
MC < M : then it should not bend
As, we get M = 1.55 Nm and MC = 0.7049 Nm. So, it satisfies our desired condition, MC < M.

Hence, ACP is suitable chassis material for this project.

4.5 - Torque and Force Calculation of Gear Motor

Radius of wheel, r =2.15cm = 0.0215m
For gear motor,
Voltage, V = 12 V
Current, I = 70 mA = 70x10-3 A
From specification of our gear motor,
Angular velocity, ω = (2*π*110) / 60
= 11.52 rad/sec
So, power,
P = τ*ω
r =2.15cm
 τ=P/ω
 τ = VI / ω
 τ = 12*70x10-3 / 11.52
Therefore, τ = 0.0729 Nm
We know torque, τ = r* Fgear
So, force generated by gear motor,
Fgear = τ / r = 0.0729 / 0.0215
= 3.391 N The reason behind dividing the
For climbing on the vertical surface the gear motor thrust force by 4 because there
should provide such amount of force Fdesired. are Force gear motor installed
Fdesired = Fthrust / 4 = 8.99577/ 4 = 2.249 N
So, force can delivered by each gear motor Fgear = 3.391 N, Force have to face while climbing
on the vertical surface is Fdesired = 2.249 N
In sense, if,
Fgear = Fdesire : The robot will operate under thrust force
Fgear > Fdesire : It can successfully operate with more stability under thrust force
Fgear < Fdesire : It can’t be operate under thrust force

For our robot, Fgear = 3.391 N and Fdesired = 2.249 N

So, Fgear > Fdesire is satisfied
Hence, the robot can successfully climb with more stability under thrust force.

ME-B Group-3 28 | P a g e
 Chapter 05: Result and Discussion
5.1 - Objectives Completed
 Design and fabricate a robot that can climb and clean the vertical surface.
[ See, Subchapter 3.3 ]
 Construct a custom cleaning mechanism that puts less amount of force against thrust
force as the robot will mainly hold itself on the wall by thrust force.
[ See, Subchapter 1.5 ]
 Build a robot that can climb faster than the suction based climbing robot.

5.2 - Objectives Not Achieved

All of the three objective have been achieved successfully. No objective changed during the
project timeline.

5.3 - Limitations
 If the full robotic system runs continuously with a full charge of 2200mAh 12V Li-Po
battery, it will run only three and a half or four minutes. So, the duration of work with
a full charge is very low.
 The cleaning mechanism that has been installed on this robot is very inefficient in terms
of cleaning. The width of cleaning area by a single wipe is very small.
[ See, Subchapter 1.5 ]
 Heating issue is one of the major limitations of this robot. The heat mainly generates in
the ESC and BLDC motor. [ See, Subchapter 4.1 ]
 The signal range is very short. A HC-05 Bluetooth module is used as signal receiver in
this project. The range is only 10 meters or approximately 30 feet.

5.4 - Future Improvements

 A vacuum and thrust based hybrid wall climbing robot can be developed in the future.
A vacuum based system shows more stability while clinging on the wall than the thrust
based. On contrary, thrust based system is faster in climbing on the wall.
[ See, Subchapter 1.6 ] . This combination can make this robot more efficient.
 More versatile and efficient cleaning mechanism can be developed. There are various
type of vertical surface which need different types of cleaning. For this project, we have
only focused on the smooth surface, like glass.
 It can be integrated with sensors. By this, the robot will become a self-operating, self-
detecting cleaner robot.
 A 50A or 80 A ECS and a more branded BLDC motor can be installed to minimize the
heat issue. [ See, Subchapter 4.1 ]
 We can develop a wall climbing robot that can not only use as cleaning purpose but can
be used for paint, surveillance, goods delivery purposes. [ See, Subchapter 1.4 ]

ME-B Group-3 29 | P a g e
 Chapter 06: Conclusion
In this project, our objective was to design a cost efficient simple wall climbing cleaning robot.
Among the other mean of wall climbing methods the propeller thrust method is quite cost
effective and easy to design. During the climbing operation, a very precise calculation is done
so that it can generate enough thrust to cling the whole body of the robot to the vertical surface.
A very important term in this calculation was the determining the friction coefficient (µs) in
static condition of the rubber wheels of the robot on white board. It was calculated through an
experimental procedure. The programming code of the robot is also a vital part. This needs to
be done in the most accurate way possible otherwise the robot will not work properly. The
cleaning mechanism is a custom made mechanism which is designed especially for this robot.
A separate calculation is also done for the stress and deformation of the chassis. It is a very
important step as this calculation is directly related to material selection for the chassis. Overall
weight distribution and the component set ups and their positions also plays a very important
role for this robot to maintain its stability and fluent operation. However, this project is at its
initial stage. Further development and research can be done to maximize the robot’s efficiency
and to enhance its abilities.

ME-B Group-3 30 | P a g e
 Chapter 07: References

[1] A. D. P. Raj and D. Nayak, "Design and development of wall climbing robot,"
ethesis@nitr, vol. 1, no. 3, pp. 1-27, 2014. http://ethesis.nitrkl.ac.in/5904/1/110ID0570-
4.pdf
[2] M. Donode, S. Bramhankar, M. M. Ansari, S. Ahmad, V. Chede and S. Choudhary, "Wall
Climbing Glass Cleaner Robot," International Journal of Innovations in Engineering and
Science, vol. 6, no. 2, pp. 1-3, 2021. http://www.ijies.net/finial-docs/finial-
pdf/020721681.pdf
[3] P. Liang, X. Gao, Q. Zhang, R. Gao, M. Li, Y. Xu and W. Zhu, "Design and Stability
Analysis of a Wall-Climbing Robot Using Propulsive Force of Propeller," Symmetry, vol.
13, no. 3, p. 37, 2020. https://www.mdpi.com/2073-8994/13/1/37

[4] M. A. Muthugala, M. Vega-Heredia, R. E. Mohan and S. R. Vishaal, "Design and Control

of a Wall Cleaning Robot with Adhesion-Awareness," Symmetry, vol. 12, no. 2, p. 122,
2020. https://www.mdpi.com/2073-8994/12/1/122

[5] H. A. Rodriguez-Arias, "Low-cost automatic device for obtaining the coefficient of static
friction," IOP Conference Series: Materials Science and Engineering, vol. 519, no. 5, p.
012018, 2019. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/333431558_Low-
cost_automatic_device_for_obtaining_the_coefficient_of_static_friction

ME-B Group-3 31 | P a g e
 Chapter 08: Appendix
8.1 - Programming Code
 Following coding is developed to create a program to control the overall operating
system of the robot through GUI designed in RemoteXY website:

#define REMOTEXY_MODE__HARDSERIAL
#include <RemoteXY.h>

// RemoteXY connection settings

#define REMOTEXY_SERIAL Serial
#define REMOTEXY_SERIAL_SPEED 9600

// RemoteXY configurate
#pragma pack(push, 1)
uint8_t RemoteXY_CONF[] =
{ 255,5,0,0,0,64,0,15,31,0,
5,36,66,10,32,32,2,26,31,4,
0,15,14,8,36,2,26,10,59,77,
48,13,13,12,26,31,69,110,103,97,
103,101,0,31,68,105,115,101,110,103,
97,103,101,0,2,0,31,4,22,11,
2,26,31,31,79,78,0,79,70,70,
0 };

// this structure defines all the variables and events of your control interface
struct {
// input variables
int8_t joystick_1_x; // =-100..100 x-coordinate joystick position
int8_t joystick_1_y; // =-100..100 y-coordinate joystick position
int8_t slider_1; // =0..100 slider position
uint8_t switch_1; // =1 if state is ON, else =0
uint8_t switch_2; // =1 if switch ON and =0 if OFF

// other variable
uint8_t connect_flag; // =1 if wire connected, else =0
} RemoteXY;
#pragma pack(pop)

ME-B Group-3 32 | P a g e
#include <Servo.h>
Servo Motor;
Servo myservo;
int x=60;

#define PIN_SWITCH_1 13

//define right motor control pins

#define right_motor_A 6
#define right_motor_B 7
#define right_motor_speed 5 //enable pin

//define left motor control pins

#define left_motor_A 8
#define left_motor_B 9
#define left_motor_speed 10 //enable pin

//define two arrays with a list of pins for each motor

uint8_t RightMotor[3] = {right_motor_A, right_motor_B, right_motor_speed};
uint8_t LeftMotor[3] = {left_motor_A, left_motor_B, left_motor_speed};

//speed control of motors

void Wheel (uint8_t * motor, int v) // v = motor speed, motor = pointer to an array of pins
{
if (v > 100) v=100;
if (v < -100) v=-100;
if (v > 0){
digitalWrite (motor [0], HIGH);
digitalWrite (motor [1], LOW);
analogWrite (motor [2], v * 2.55);
}
else if ( v<0 ){
digitalWrite (motor [0], LOW);
digitalWrite (motor [1], HIGH);
analogWrite (motor [2], (-v) * 2.55);
}

ME-B Group-3 33 | P a g e
 else{
digitalWrite (motor [0], LOW);
digitalWrite (motor [1], LOW);
analogWrite (motor [2], 0);
}
}

void setup()
{
RemoteXY_Init ();
pinMode(2, OUTPUT);
pinMode(4, OUTPUT);
pinMode(12, OUTPUT);
tone(2, 2500);
delay(1000);
noTone(2);
delay(1000);
tone(2, 2500);
delay(500);
noTone(2);
delay(500);
tone(2, 2500);
delay(500);
noTone(2);
digitalWrite(4, HIGH);

myservo.attach(3);
myservo.write(150);
delay(2000);
myservo.write(180);
delay(2000);
myservo.write(120);
delay(2000);
myservo.write(60);

pinMode(3,OUTPUT);
digitalWrite(12, LOW);

ME-B Group-3 34 | P a g e
 pinMode (PIN_SWITCH_1, OUTPUT);

//initialization pins
pinMode (right_motor_A, OUTPUT);
pinMode (right_motor_B, OUTPUT);
pinMode (left_motor_A, OUTPUT);
pinMode (left_motor_B, OUTPUT);

void loop()
{
RemoteXY_Handler ();
if(RemoteXY.switch_2==1)
{
//manage the right motor
Wheel (RightMotor, RemoteXY.joystick_1_y - RemoteXY.joystick_1_x);
Wheel (LeftMotor, RemoteXY.joystick_1_y + RemoteXY.joystick_1_x);

Motor.attach(11,1000,2000);
Motor.write(RemoteXY.slider_1 * 1.8);

if(RemoteXY.switch_1==1)
{
if(x>30)
{
digitalWrite(4, LOW);
for (x=60; x>0 ; x--)
{
// bail out on sensor detect
myservo.write(x);
delay(50);
}
digitalWrite(12, HIGH);
}

ME-B Group-3 35 | P a g e
 else
{
x=0;
digitalWrite(4, LOW);
digitalWrite(12, HIGH);
}
}
else
{
myservo.write(60);
x=60;

digitalWrite(12, LOW);
digitalWrite(4, HIGH);
}
}
else
{

ME-B Group-3 36 | P a g e

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