ROBOTICS
AND AEROSPACE AUTOMATION
ABSTRACT
In the field of
Technology, every day a new technique is ruled. It has some pros and cons. It
has his own characteristic due to which we have to adopt it. Today is the World
of “new Technology” which we have to take in practice. Robotics is one of the
area in the development. Robots are widely used in the Mechanical field. In the
Aerospace Industries Robots are widely used for the art of wing assembly,
Coating facility, manufacturing processes (cutting, drilling, weilding).There
is also Shape changing robots used in the space station. At NASA, Spirit
and recently Opportunity Mars
Pathfinder mission used a robot explorer, which analyzed Martian rock and soil.
INTRODUCTION TO
ROBOT:
A
robot is defined as an intelligent mechanical device that is capable of
performing tasks originally done by humans. In recent years technology has made
rapid improvements in single-chip microcomputers. The drastic reduction in both
the price and size of microcomputers has provided an opportunity for building
new and improved robots. The aim of this was to design and develop a
self-contained autonomous mobile robot.It includes a flexible picking
up/disposal mechanism and the ability to identify trash-bins and the dumping
grounds using infrared sensors. (1)
The
term robot means robota which is from a C-Zech word meaning hard labour. Robots
are useful things because they can make life much easier by doing our work for
us. There are so many automatic machines around Industrial robots are often
mechanical arms. (2)
Since Robby the Robot first
appeared on screen in 1956’s Forbidden Planet, science fiction in print, film
and on television has pushed the limits of our imagination regarding machines
of the future and their abilities to perform human tasks.(3)
Thus the Robots are used
in production processes called Automation Technology, i.e.SCARA (Self
-Compliance Assembly Robot Arm), in hazardous enviournments, in the rescue
works to perform tedious, unpleasant and very
dangerous jobs. (4)
THE ART OF WING ASSEMBLY:
Air-bus has a
manufacturing schedule that projects production of more than 38 wing sets a
month by 2005 at least 12 greater than it's current average. Therefore the
company has unveiled details of the second phase of it's new automated wing box
assembly (AWBA-2) research project, which if implemented, it says could greatly
reduce costs an lead times of the wing assembly process. AWBA-2 project is just
one example of leading age manufacturing technologies being examined by airbus
to help meet delivery schedules as orders grow and also to facilitate
manufacture of more sophisticated wing designs.
AWBA-2
integrates handling, positioning, measuring, drilling, wing skin panel wrapping
and fastening technologies by robot in a single 8.5 m high demonstrator. Having
proved the concept of wings skin panel wrapping, the demonstrator is also capable
of handling and positioning of 6 m high wing rib "quickly and
safely". Further operations in the awba-2 cell demonstrator will entail
evaluations for cost, accuracy and repeatability compare to manual assembly
methods plus scale up implications and any aerodynamic and system
effects.AWBA-2 is a partnership of seven UK best companies each responsible for
designing, manufacturing and evaluating different elements within the cell
demonstrator. There are six phases to the production line.(5)
COATING FACILITY FOR F-22 RAPTOR:
The expanded
facility, which was designed, by Burns and MacDonnell, MO provides the final
exterior finishes for the aircraft to large coating bays within the facility
house a robotic system that applies the advanced coating to the aircraft. This
is used for aircraft to avoid detection. To ensure through application the
robotic system follows an embedded cable located in the coating bay floor which
allows track guided robot to move around the perimeter of the aircraft and
apply paint and coating. The robotic system offers several benefits over manual
coating application including greater precision work continues on the
facilities with installation and programming of the robots. (5)
ROBOTS USED IN MANUFACTURING:
Cutting:
Waterjet
cutting is now a widely accepted part of manufacturing. ABBI-R has introduced a
new waterjet cutting model ,the original IV, design for easier use and having
what is claimed as "The smallest footprint on the market ." it could
have a role in the aerospace industry ,believes the company. The robotic system
forms the core of ABBI-R's 3-D pure waterjet cutting technology for trim
application for flexible automation and high pressure water pumps from
Ingersoll Rand. Waterjet allows the other cleaning methods, including the
blasting and deburing. (6)
Orbital
Welding:
Astro Arc Polysoude supplies
Lockheed Martin with automated orbital welding equipment used for propulsion
system tubing assembly in its spacecraft AT NASA. A typical system consists of
more than 300 welds that require the high quality and good repeatability.
Spacecraft and launch vehicles uses variety of tubing, mainly from stainless
steel and titanium materials, with wall thickness varying from 0.0016 to 0.09
in and diameters ranging from 0.125-1.50 inch.” Some
of the tubing work we work with is quite thin," said Mike Serafin, Welding
Engineer at Lockheed Martin Space Systems in Denver CO. (7)
Drilling:
According to Airbus UK, AWBA-2 demonstrator test work’s currently
meeting all expectations." AEA focused on optimization of automatic
drilling parameters to maximize hole quality and minimize burr size. The
company’s goal was to optimize and [effect the efficiency and speed of the
drilling cycle without sacrificing hole quality. AEA carried
out a manufactured a fixed tested and the conducted
extensive robot based drilling tests using a robot -mounted drilling end
effector.Upon completion of this trials ,AEA also undertook modal analysis and
vibration trials on the robot to see what effects if any these factors might
have in hole quality and accuracy when automatically drilling. It is for the
fastest drilling of the holes without sacrificing hole quality and burr size,
spindle speed should be set between 4000 and 8000 rpm and feed speed should
start at 5.5mm/s and reduced to 1.5mm/s just before breakthrough. For this, a
conventional Kuku 350 Robot was adapted to make it suitable for drilling and
fastening. (8)
Kuka-350 Robot Cutting Robot at ABBI’R
Shape
Changing Robot:
Shape changing robots are ideal
for sending to moons and planets. When the Mars Lander touched down on Mars, it
could easily have been rendered useless if it had landed on a boulder amongst
the thousands of boulders on what looked like a flat featureless plane from a
satellite photograph. Shape changing robots would have none of those
difficulties. They would be able to crawl about and investigate their
surroundings and report back much more than what could be reported back with
conventional rovers. If the rovers were solar powered, then it could crawl
about on Mars for several decades without failing because they are extremely
energy efficient and can move one brick at a time if required unsupervised
across most hard terrains. The giant bird configuration generates much more
solar power, effects repairs to itself and can last much longer in space.(9)
Space Shuttle:
The
orbital assembly of the International Space Station begins a new era of the
hands on work in space, involving more spacewalks than ever before and a
generation of the space robotics. Three assembly missions and two shuttle
flights are launched by Robot yet. Soyuz Crew return Spacecraft will be
launched. Canada Opportunity ,
which is scheduled to land on the opposite side Mars on 25 Jan 2004.(10)
Spirit: Mars
Pathfinder
Talon
Robot:
The Talon robot has
been used for several years by U.S. Army and Air-force Combat Engineers
handling mines and clearing dangerous ammunition. But now the robot has been
fitted with various weapons. In tests, the 85 pound robot has used for the M202
round rocket launcher and is being tested with a six round 40mm grenade
launcher, .50 calibers, 7.62mm and 5.56mm machine-guns. The original Talon 1
weighed 85 pounds, was 34 inches long 22.5 inches wide and 11 inches high. It
had a 63 inch long, jointed arm with a claw on the end. The Talon 1 could carry
200 pounds, usually additional sensors (including a sensor, as Talon can
operate underwater). Talon can operate via an onboard GPS and software that
provides some autonomous behavior. Its batteries allow it to operate for 1-4
hours (depending on workload.) The robot has four vidcams, including night
vision, and a comm. link capable of two way operation. Max speed is about six
feet a second (6.5 kilometers an hour, or a fast walk). The operator, using a
CRT or VR (virtual reality) goggles, could be as far as 1800 meters from the
robot. The wardroid version, or Talon 2, uses lighter lithium ion batteries and
weights 76 pounds. Same dimensions, but the new batteries give the Talon 2
10-12 hours of operations.
TRAP allows different weapons to be quickly
mounted. TRAP allows the weapon to maintain its aim at a target even while
Talon is moving. The same 33 pound (in a small suitcase) control system is
used, in addition to a lighter wearable control unit. Talon 2 is not armored.
The Talon 2 will also be tested carrying a Javelin anti-tank missile, a .50
caliber sniper rifle and various mine detectors and electronic devices. While
Talon has proven very useful in dealing with EOD (unexploded ordnance disposal)
work and mine clearing, on the battlefield, it could prove useful for standing
guard in exposed and dangerous positions and generally filling in for jobs that
are very high risk. The U.S. Iraq
TALON
1
TALON
2
ECONOMIC
CONSIDERATION:
More complex analysis reveals
significant cost savings when automated technologies used for aircraft
production. Military airframe producers have a disincentive to reduce cost.
Military airframe producers assemble the aircraft .If the government let the
military airframe assembly manufacture make as much profit as they can. The
cost of the airframe would reduce competition would enter the market place in
the form of additional competitors that would challenge the current limited
number of firms and complete away cost until the most efficient method of
manufacture is attained.(11)
CONCLUSION:
As there are many other
manufacturing technology to perform the processes but the role of automation in
aerospace.As the new advanced manufacturing incoming days different robots may
be investigated which have high speed ,accuracy, less complex construction. In
the coming days there will be enormous development that every work will be done
by robots.
REFERENCES
1) Edward Bachelder
and Nancy Leveson," Describing and Probing Complex System Behaviour", 2001-01-2646
2)
Christopher C. Funke,"Concurrent Engineering in Aircraft Industry and
its Relationship to the Development
Process", 972245
3) Linda
M.Orlady,"Automation Issues: Prospective from the Flight Deck ",
2001-01-5546.
4) Horoshi China,"Numerical
Stimulation of Road Vehicle Aerodynamics and Effects Aerodynamic Devices",
910597.
5) Aerospace Engg. Magazine
Sept., Aug.2000
6)
George"Nick"Bullen,"Determining the Economic Application Point
for Assembly Automation
Technology", 2001-01-3029.
7)
NASA Space Shuttles and Facilities: "Information Summaries"
-IS-2000-09-31-KSC-September-2000.page
no: 5, 7, 12, and 20.
8)
NASA Facts-IS-1999-06-ISS-022.
9)
http/www.spaceflight.nasa.gov.pathfinder/index.html
10)
http/www.jsc.nasa.gov/sa/sd/facility/recent.htm
11) http/a: \NASA hooked on
commercial shuttle robots - GCN February 9, 1998.htm
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