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by Bennett Brumson , Contributing Editor Robotic Industries Association Posted 07/31/2012

The role of robotics in the manufacture of aerospace products is important although not as pervasive as in the automotive industry. While robotics play an important function in the fabrication of aircraft engines, aerospace companies are increasingly investing in robots to perform drilling, painting and other tasks on airframes. Robots ability to repeatedly position very large aerospace components with a high degree of precision ensures that flexible automation has potential market growth.

Traditional robots that have worked so well in Detroit for the last 30 years do not work well in Everett, begins Erik Nieves, Technology Director with the Motoman Robotics Division of Yaskawa America Inc. (Miamisburg, Ohio). Todays new robots have become more capable and accurate, bringing them within the performance levels required for aerospace applications

Drill, Robot, Drill Drilling holes into components is the largest use of robotics in the aerospace industry. Precision requirements of this application gives end-users an incentive to look at robotics as a means to quickly and consistently undertake this chore. A fuselage needs thousands of holes drilled and drilling them manually is not feasible, says Chris Blanchette, National Account Manager with FANUC Robotics America Corp. (Rochester Hills, Michigan). Vision systems allow the robot to accurately locate where on the airframe that robot will be drilling.

Drilling is not only the most common job robots are called on to do, but has the longest track record within the aerospace industry. Robots do a wide variety of jobs in the aerospace industry but drilling holes is far and away the number one application robots do. Robots drill, put fasteners into the holes and assemble the parts, says Curtis Richardson, Associate Technical Fellow at Spirit AeroSystems Inc. (Wichita, Kansas).

Richardson says Robots fill the middle void between manual labor and hard automation. Spirit AeroSystems approach is to use the right tool for the job. Robots drill holes very efficiently, precisely, repeatedly and to a very high degree of quality. Manual drilling is difficult to do by hand. Drilling manually takes a tremendous amount of skill and experience to get to the level of quality that a robot can.

Tooling costs are reduced using robotics for drilling. Manual drilling requires expensive tooling such as jigs and fixtures. Powerful drilling equipment can be costly and robots are often a good alternative, says Richardson.

Likewise, Robots have been used extensively for over 30 years to drill fastener holes. Drilling is the primary application Lockheed Martin uses robots for in our Fort Worth, Texas facility. Drilling fastener holes is an extremely redundant and difficult task, particularly when working on titanium parts, says David Siedal, a Technical Fellow with Lockheed Martin. When done manually, drilling requires multiple steps, such as drilling a pilot hole, drill to the final diameter, then reaming it.

While manual drilling may take up to four operations, robotic drilling can be accomplished in a single pass, says Siedal. Robots drill the hole to its full diameter and depth, including the countersink, in a single pass. Robots are a huge time-saver in a job impossible for people to do in one pass

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Robots in Aerospace Applications