Development of an Insulation Panels Installation Robot for LNG Carriers

The traditional installation methods of insulation panels in the containment system of LNG carriers cannot satisfy the requirement of high precision and high efficiency. We developed a novel visual servo-based insulation panels installation robot. The mechanical structure of the robot mainly consists of primary and auxiliary movement models. Hydraulic power drives the primary movement model, which aims to quick targeting of target decks over a wide range. Electric power actuates the auxiliary movement model, which uses for installing an insulation panel accurately over a small field. Apart from this, combining the Kalman filter algorithm, this paper used an uncalibrated visual servo system in the insulation panels installation robot. The developed insulation panels installation robot dramatically reduces the labor intensity of workers and improves the installation efficiency and accuracy of insulation panels.