IDRRS-I- Development of a Robot System for Insulators Detection and Replacement Task.

Substation insulator strings have been exposed to harsh weather and high-voltage environments for a long time, so there is a tremendous demand for inspection and replacement operations. But the manual works are severe difficulty and low efficiency. This paper proposes an Insulators Detection and Replacement Robot System(IDRRS-I) solve the problems and introduce its mechanical structure and control system. The robot system consists of an aerial lift truck with an insulating arm, a detection robot, a collaborative robot arm, a 5 degrees of freedom (DOF) hybrid operation arm, an automated fixture replacement kit, a vision and control system, etc. Workers operate on the ground. The robot system automatically detects and locates faulty insulators and semi-automatically completes replacing single-piece insulators. The actual application shows that working with the robot system has high safety and efficiency.