Upside down:
Robot for inspection and repairs

The mobile robot can easily recognize free-form 3D surfaces. To make a scarf joint, it is placed on a positioning device attached to the component with suction cups. Specially developed software allows the robot to process 1,000 x 1,000- millimeter surfaces. Even thick composite structures such as wing connection areas pose no problem. For the repair, the robot scans the damage, identifies the surface and calculates both the shape of the scarf joint and the milling path before cutting out the damaged material. Afterwards, the repair layers are cut to size and inserted into the 3D scarfed surface created by the robot. The newly inserted part is then manually bonded to the fuselage and cured. The procedure enhances the bonding strength and also offers reproducible repairs.