The present work reports the development of a miniature wall-climbing robot for ferrous structures. The robot uses a combination of wheel and legs (whegs) locomotion mechanism and permanent disc flexible magnetic strips for continuous adhesion as required for vertical wall climbing. The adhesion force, gait planning and power consumption analyses confirm the concept design of the proposed robot. The design analysis and experimental trials validate the proposed wall-climbing concept using a developed miniature prototype using a 3D printing facility. The developed wall-climbing robot uses different experimental set-ups for adhesion force and power estimation during various climbing motions. The experiments of robot motion during vertical wall climbing and plain wall-transitions established that it can easily adapt to ferrous structures. After laboratory trials, the proposed robot concept can be further tested in the actual environment and other material surface applications by design modifications and experimental prototyping.

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