Magnecko from ETH Zurich

We are a team of third-year bachelor’s engineering students from ETH Zurich. Our team consists of two electrical engineers and six mechanical engineers. Over the course of two semesters, we are building a legged climbing robot with magnetic feet.

Numerous steel-made constructions in the industrial environment need inspections to guarantee their safety and plan for maintenance work. These structures are often difficult and dangerous to climb for human workers. Currently, the only inspection robots that can access those heights are drones. They are however a lot more unstable than a legged robot and aren’t great for tasks that require high precision and strength. They are also unsuitable for more confined areas, especially if scaled up. This leaves us with one option for our robot: a legged climbing robot.

Combining the strengths of both systems, a climbing robot has the capabilities to complete tasks unsuitable for drones and ground-based legged robots. Therefore, to make the inspection safer and more efficient, we are engineering Magnecko, a battery-powered, quadrupedal climbing robot with magnetic feet.

For our project, we focus on climbing applications in industrial environments. The main goal is to develop a mobile, legged climbing robot with magnetic feet that shall be able to walk and climb on vertical walls, horizontal floors, and ceilings; all surfaces are made of ferrous materials. For this we will build a small parkour where the robot should also switch between different planes. The robot should also be able to transition perpendicular convex corners to switch between different planes.

The electrical system needs to provide sufficient power to our motors and make a safe operation possible. Therefore, we have designed a power distribution board which is able to provide up to 30A to our motors. Included in this PCB there is a small computation unit which enables us to communicate with the different sensors and of course steer our magnets. With the help of the sponsorship of Eurocircuits we are able to ensure a high-quality PCB!