EVOLUTION AND PERSPECTIVES OF CLIMBING ROBOTS AT THE INDUSTRIAL AUTOMATION INSTITUTE.: LESSONS LEARNED AND NEW DIRECTIONS
The Industrial Automation Institute (IAI-CSIC) has been very active since its foundation (1971) in providing innovative and advanced solutions to a relevant number of industrial problems. Applied research in the field of Automatic Control paved the way to investigate robot design and control, where contributions can be traced back for more than thirty years. Both industrial and special purpose robots were the subjects of research and technical development. Since twenty years ago, the Automatic Control Department of the IAI-CSIC is researching in climbing and walking robots. In this paper, the evolution and perspectives of research in the field of climbing robots at the IAI-CSIC are revisited, and, on this foundation, lessons learned are revealed and new directions are proposed.
