Climbing robots for manufacturing

Abstract Robotized intelligent manufacturing is a growing trend in the manufacturing of large and complex components in aviation, aerospace, marine engineering and other industries. With their expansive workspaces and flexible deployment, climbing manufacturing robots can create a revolutionary manufacturing paradigm for large and complex components. This paper defines the climbing manufacturing robot based on the application status of climbing robots and then analyzes four key technical requirements: adhesion, locomotion, localization and control. Subsequently, the current research status of climbing robots in these four areas is classified and reviewed, along with a clarification of the research frontiers and trends in each area, and the applicability of the relevant research to manufacturing-oriented climbing robotic systems is analyzed. Finally, by concluding the development trends of robotized intelligent manufacturing equipment in terms of manufacturing dimension and scale, environmental adaptability and cluster collaboration capability, we clarify the major challenges for climbing manufacturing robots in terms of adhesion principles, motion mechanisms, positioning technology and control methods, and propose future research directions in these fields.