Abstract#R##N##R##N#A sophisticated, highly miniaturized, mobile robot has been developed to collect boundary layer velocity profile data over the surfaces of wind tunnel models. To reduce aerodynamic interference effects the robot was built with dimensions of only 150mm tall X 70mm long X 35mm wide, yet it contained a substantial number of electro-mechanical and electronic systems for accurately positioning small pressure probes, and for transducing their pressure data. The robot system, which could be controlled in a tele-operator mode from outside the wind tunnel, was capable of traversing a pressure probe normal to the model surface at two speeds, and was able to stop the probe at any desired location with a positional accuracy of 0.022mm. The robot also included systems that enabled it to move over the model surfaces in a chordwise sense, and to rotate the probe through 180° for use in reversed flow regions. When used operationally during actual wind tunnel testing, the robot functioned flawlessly, and returned high quality boundary layer data.
['Stuart Wilkinson']
A miniature robotic boundary layer data acquisition system