Getting robots to multi-task

The demand to fulfill continually increasing customer requirements forces suppliers to offer state-of-the-art system manufacturing solutions.

The aircraft industry is constantly looking for highly flexible solutions to support existing production and the future scope of production. Under quality guidelines, recommended by the aircraft customer, as well as economic guidelines, the integration of a state-of-the-art fastening machine cannot be emphasized too much.

The implementation of the techniques should cover current requirements, and also have the capability to support aircraft assembly in the future. Furthermore, it is necessary to consider different panel sizes and, if necessary, complete narrow-body fuselage sections from the cockpit to the aft clam shell. To address such issues, engineers at Claas Fertigungstechnik developed an automated fastening and drilling concept that combines a flexible robot with a flexible tooling concept to allow a flow line assembly.