The attachment of mobile vehicle is necessary for the automated operation on the inclined or vertical walls of steel structures. Since the vehicle requires attaching devices additionally, its overall efficiency can be reduced by the devices. Therefore, external shapes of mobile vehicles have to be researched to give the effective movement on the vertical face. For the design of mobile vehicle, the guideline has been derived from the modeling of wall-climbing, so that the vehicle should have a specific external shape for vertical movement due to the gravitational force. Hence, some adequate arrangement of attaching device to the mobile vehicle has been presented for the effective movement. In the experiments with four permanent magnetic wheels, a plausible result was achieved as a vertical attaching force of 185.2(N), a friction force of 153.8(N) and a curvature radius of 104m. The mobile vehicle should be modified according to the proposed design guideline, and then it could be applied to a specific operation as an appropriate external shape. Also, Further research is recommended on an optimal posture and a moving method in a specific application, as the attaching force of the vehicle can be affected by its posture.
