Robot Snakes and Beetles Will Repair Planes
Meg Butler July 23, 2018
Researchers from Rolls-Royce have laid out their plans to build snake and insect-swarm-inspired robots that will crawl inside engines to do inspections and perform maintenance.
Wing technology specialist Dr. James Kell recently told Digital Trends, “Repairs can be in the form of removing damaged material or putting material back on. To allow us to perform these repairs, we are working with an extensive network of partners to develop mechatronic probes — similar in nature to keyhole surgery techniques.”
The “snake,” a long, thin tubular robot, will gain access to the engine through any nearby small opening. Then, a swarm of tiny miniature “beetles,” each around 10mm in diameter, will crawl around the engine and do the repairs.
The robots will not only be able to do repairs in small places but also far away places. Continues Kell: “Imagine a damaged compressor blade in an engine in Dubai. A deployed remote boreblending robot would allow a person in Derby [in the U.K.] to repair it to get the engine back in service days quicker than the current approach.”
To read more on the topic, go to Digital Trends.
[Image Source: Rolls Royce]
Very nice! thanks for sharing.
"Imagine" a tiny robot getting caught deep into an engine and someone forgetting it is there (sort of like surgical tools left in a patient)......"Imagine" what could go wrong.