The 15th International Conference on Intelligent Robotics and Applications (ICIRA 2022) was held in Harbin from August 1 to 3. Master’s student Mr. Hao Xu from the Institute of Design and Control Engineering for Heavy Equipment at the School of Mechanical Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, who was guided by Professor Weizhong Guo, gave a presentation on his research paper entitled“Design and Analysis of a Novel Magnetic Adhesion Robot with Passive Suspension”, which helped him win the Best Student Paper Award.

The paper focused on the special task of inspecting the steel lining welds of nuclear power plants and proposed a novel design of a magnetic adhesion wheeled robot (called NuBot) with passive suspension. Based on the kinematic model, the global suspension parameters are obtained utilizing the performance atlas method and the combination of several performance indicators (e.g., the global stiffness). Considering the slip and overturning conditions, its safety adhesion capacity under various typical working conditions is analyzed and verified by the prototype. The research has been used to apply for two national invention patents, which provide a new technical approach for the unmanned inspection process of nuclear power plants while reducing labor intensity and safety risk. The research work is supported by the Shanghai Nuclear Star Nuclear Power Technology Co., Ltd. and the State Key Laboratory of Mechanical System and Vibration. The authors of the paper include Hao Xu, Youcheng Han, Weizhong Guo, Mingda He and Li Yinghui.

The International Conference on Intelligent Robotics and Applications (ICIRA) is one of the world-renowned conferences in the field of robotics, and an academic conference with great influence in the field of robotics, which is held once a year. The theme of this year’s conference is "Smart Robotics for Society", which aims to promote the development of global robotics technology and applications, and shows the latest international research in robotics, automation, mechatronics, and robot applications. A total of 287 papers were submitted, and two best student paper awards and ten nomination awards were conferred.

Research Paper Link: https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-031-13822-5_33