RICHARD ZHANG
Design Engineer Imperial College London
Bladebug is a startup that designs hexapod robots with the ability to walk along the surface of wind turbine blades in order to inspect and repair them. Having a single technician control Bladebug to service a set of wind turbines is a safer and cheaper solution than hiring multiple rope access technicians.
I worked as an intern for Bladebug for three months from July to October of 2018 and contributed to the design, manufacture and testing of the current prototype which was used to secure further funding from investors.
OVERVIEW
WHAT I DID
My favorite aspect of working for Bladebug was the amount of freedom and responsibility I was given. Immediately after starting, I worked on developing the previous two legged prototype into a six legged version with functioning vacuum-pulling feet. This technology is what allows the robot to walk along many surfaces at a variety of orientations. The design process involved creating new circuit boards to govern the solenoid valves and vacuum switches which I designed and manufactured. I created a basic test rig to calibrate vacuum switch and pump settings.
I then worked on creating a CAD model of the new prototype which was used to fabricate Bladebug's new body legs which were water jet cut and 3D printed respectively.
After assembling and creating code for the new prototype for basic movement and vacuum control, I assisted in testing at the Offshore Renewable Energy Catapult research center in Blythe.
After a returning from a successful set of tests, I begun research into a solo project to create a robot to secure trailing cables that run to Bladebug until the end of my internship.
