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The purpose of this paper is to design a climbing robot connected by a connecting rod mechanism to achieve multi-functional tasks such as obstacles crossing and climbing of power transmission towers.

A connecting rod type gripper has been designed to achieve stable grasping of angle steel. Before grasping, use coordination between structures to achieve stable docking and grasping. By using the alternating movements of two claws and the middle climbing mechanism, the climbing and obstacle crossing of the angle steel were achieved.

Through a simple linkage mechanism, a climbing robot has been designed, greatly reducing the overall mass of the robot. It can also carry a load of 1 kg, and the climbing mechanism can perform stable climbing. The maximum step distance of the climbing robot is 543 mm, which can achieve the crossing of angle steel obstacles.

A transmission tower climbing mechanism was proposed by analyzing the working environment. Through the locking ability of the screw nut, stable clamping of the angle steel is achieved, and a pitch mechanism is designed to adjust the posture of the hand claw.

This study investigates the impact of board gender diversity and foreign ownership on innovation in Chinese firms.

The authors use data for Chinese manufacturing firms listed on the Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges, for a sample over the period 2008–2017. Ordinary least square (OLS) is used as the baseline methodology, with cluster OLS, two-stage Heckman test, Blau index and Shannon index used to address endogeneity issues.

The results show that gender diversity on the board has a positive effect on corporate innovation as measured by the total number of patent applications, invention patent applications, utility model patent applications and design patent applications. Our findings also provide support for the critical mass participation of female directors on the board being associated with more innovation. They also reveal that innovation output does not vary across state-owned enterprises (SOEs) and non-SOEs. These outcomes reveal that SOEs' advantages, such as easy access to funding and more support of government, are likely offset by their disadvantages, such as different goals and having more agency issues. Because of intense political power and networks in Chinese firms, qualified foreign institutional investors (QFIIs) are less motivated to enhance innovation activities.

This study highlights the role of board gender diversity in enhancing innovation among Chinese manufacturing firms. Our findings provide support for regulatory bodies' role regarding women's participation on the board.

This research adds to literature by addressing the largely ignored questions of whether providing a gender-diverse board enhances innovation, whether critical mass participation has a greater effect on improving firm innovation and whether the influence of women directors varies with ownership structure.