The multifunction automated crawling system (MACS)

TLDR

A robotic crawler is being developed to inspect large aircraft external surfaces. The MACS crawler, fabricated with ultrasonic motors, suction cups, two legs, and a rotation element, can move linearly and rotate to carry instrumentation modules for inspecting large aircraft surfaces.

Abstract

A new robotic crawler is being developed for inspection of large aircraft external surfaces. The multifunction automated crawling system (MACS) has been designed and fabricated to carry miniature instrumentation to perform a wide variety of tasks while being attached to an aircraft's surface. The immediate application of MACS is inspection of the exterior of large military aircraft such as the C-5. Various inspection payload modules could be incorporated onto the MACS crawler to perform the desired inspections. MACS employs ultrasonic motors for mobility and suction cups for surface adherence. MACS has two legs for linear motion and a rotation element for turning, enabling any simultaneous combination of motion from linear to rotation about a central axis.