A manipulator for servicing tubes extending through a tube sheet having
three major components: a base member, a block member, and a foot member.
The base member has a holder for supporting tooling or inspection
devices. The base member also has at least one gripper for releasably
gripping a tube extending through the tube sheet. The block member is
connected to the base member for linear movement and rotation relative to
the base member. The foot member is connected to the block member for
linear movement relative to the block member. The foot member has at
least one, and preferably two grippers, for releasably gripping a tube
extending through the tube sheet. The manipulator supports itself using
the two sets of expandable and translatable grippers that anchor into the
tube ends and can move from tube to tube by alternately engaging each set
of grippers.