The article deals with development and application of snake robot for inspection pipes. The first step involves the introduction of a design of mechanical and electrical parts of the snake robot. Next, the analysis of the robot locomotion is introduced. For the curved pipe, potential field method is used. By this method, the system is able to generate path for the head and rear robot, linking the environment with obstacles, which are represented by the walls of the pipe. Subsequently, the solution of potential field method is used in inverse kinematic model, which respects tasks as obstacle avoidance, joint limit avoidance, and singularity avoidance. Mentioned approach is then tested on snake robot in provisional pipe with rectangular cross section. For this research, software Matlab (2013b) is used as the control system in cooperation with the control system of robot, which is based on microcontrollers. By experiments, it is shown that designed robot is able to pass through straight and also curved pipe.

In the automotive industry, 3D laser scanning is the most frequently used method to check the geometry of the shape and dimensions of a body in individual stages of production, where the scanned model is compared in a computer model. This procedure identifies excessive deformations around the roof antenna of an SUV. The manufacturer assumed that these deformations occurred during the antenna assembly process. An analysis of possible causes of deformation occurrence was performed based on the comparison of results obtained by numerical and experimental modelling. Experimental measurements using tensometry performed on a painted and unpainted roof structure showed the effect of paint reinforcement on deformations around the antenna. Based on the analysis of results obtained directly under operational load, it was found that the installation of the antenna was carried out on the already deformed roof plate and the installation process itself was not the primary cause of the identified excessive deformations. The presented results of deformation and stress analysis document deeper connections between the measured displacements of 3D scanning and the technological process of component production itself. The use of the achieved results should especially help designers, calculators, technologists as well as production quality controllers.

This paper presents a uniquely designed device combining the hole-drilling technique with two optical systems based on the PhotoStress and digital image correlation (DIC) method, where the digital image correlation system moves with the cutting tool. The authors aimed to verify whether the accuracy of the drilled hole according to ASTM E837-13a standard and the positioning accuracy of the device were sufficient to achieve accurate results. The experimental testing was performed on a thin specimen made from strain sensitive coating PS-1D, which allowed comparison of the results obtained by both methods. Although application of the PhotoStress method allows analysis of the strains at the edge of the cut hole, it requires a lot of experimenter’s practical skills to assess the results correctly. On the other hand, the DIC method allows digital processing of the measured data. However, the problem is not only to determine the data at the edge of the hole, the results also significantly depend on the smoothing levels used. The quantitative comparison of the results obtained was performed using finite element analysis.