Robots herald next generation of commercial jets

Industrial Robot

ISSN: 0143-991x

Article publication date: 1 October 2000

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Keywords

Citation

(2000), "Robots herald next generation of commercial jets", Industrial Robot, Vol. 27 No. 5. https://doi.org/10.1108/ir.2000.04927eab.005

Publisher

:

Emerald Group Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2000, MCB UP Limited


Robots herald next generation of commercial jets

Robots herald next generation of commercial jets

Keywords Robotics, Airbus industries

Commercial jets are growing ever larger and the next generation from European consortium, Airbus Industrie, is set to be the largest ever built. BAE Systems (see Plate 4) supplies wings for all the Airbus aircraft, but says Raj Mistry, BAE Systems, Airbus Assembly Technologies Group Leader, "The underlying methodology behind the assemblage of Airbus wings has remained relatively unchanged from the A300, in 1969, to the present A340. In order to improve competitiveness in the future, it will be necessary to reduce costs and increase flexibility in manufacture."

Plate 4 Wing box assembly at BAE Systems

The Automated Wing Box Assembly (AWBA) programme was launched in 1995 to identify and acquire the specific elements of technology needed to enable more automated assembly of large wings. Phase I, funded through the DTI CARAD Programme, was completed last year, identified a number of "key technology" requirements. Phase II is now being tackled by a consortium of specialist UK companies formed with part DTI funding. The group has decided to build a demonstrator to assemble the most challenging part of the wing – the root end, which is as tall as a three-storey house. BAE Systems, Airbus is the lead partner, providing wingbox design, a dedicated building for the demonstrator, assembly hardware and overall project management.

Manchester firm, UK Robotics, is in the process of creating a robot which can reach inside the wing and deploy the special swaging tool to fasten the wing box to the wing skin. The accuracy needs to be sub-millimetre, yet the tool the robot must carry weighs 50kgs. Dave Hopper, UK Robotics' Manager of Robotic Systems, explained: "Most people think that fine tolerance combined with strength are incompatible fundamental requirements."

By working closely with BAE Systems' Sowerby Research Centre, AMTRI and Leica, a solution has been formulated. Sowerby is designing a robot system which will carry out external drilling of the wing before the placement of a fastener. AEA Technology (AEAT) will be providing the force feedback control of this "drill and feed" operation. AEAT's software is being developed with the purpose of providing fine control over the drill torque, speed, feed and breakthrough, which would ensure an extremely accurate fastener hole.

Leica's laser tracking system provides an alternative to Sowerby's end effector based 3D sensing system, allowing the robots to discern when they have reached a specific point. Leica's system can follow a moving retro-reflector, measuring its 3D position at 1,000 times a second. The system, which only detects change in distance, provides the absolute distance to the target by initiating measurement at a point whose absolute distance is already known.

A sensor on UK Robotics' internal robot will guide it precisely to the fastener before carrying out the swaging. The ingenious internal robot is a combination of one of the world's most dextrous robots with a special, automated version of UK Robotics' advanced teleoperated controller (ATC), whose open architecture delivers future proof flexibility and intuitiveness. The detail behind this solution is still secret owing to commercial sensitivities.

Both UK Robotics' and Sowerby's robots will be served by AMTRI's rib carrying and placing robot. AMTRI is also providing the main gantry system, as well as a skin wrapping system.

Thus far, none of these devices has been physically brought together, but the whole system has been comprehensively modelled in a 3D simulation using Tecnomatix Robcad and Dynamo software. As a result, the overall assembly cell concept has been validated, and the kinematics for the new automated hardware are currently being developed, as are the robots' off-line programming and even the cycle time verification.

Raj Mistry explained: "There are hundreds of thousands of fasteners in each wing. Our challenge is to get the assembly time down by one third. By allowing the assembly to influence the wing design, we design the solutions in at the start and we should reap the benefits in terms of reduced lead times, improved cycle times and lower manufacturing cost. This isn't a minor change in manufacturing philosophy, but an attempt to look at aerospace manufacture in a totally new and radical way."

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