Development of an Automated Nondestructive Inspection (ANDI) System for Commercial Aircraft. Phase 1
Abstract
This report describes the first phase in the development of a robotic system designed to assist aircraft inspectors by remotely deploying nondestructive inspection (NDI) sensors and acquiring, processing, and storing inspection data. To demonstrate the feasibility of using robots to acquire data, a prototype inspection system was developed. The system comprises a surface-walking robot for sensor deployment and a personal computer for controlling the robot and for processing and displaying the acquired data. The robot can deploy an eddy current sensor on the skin surface, scan a portion of a rivet row, and step to another location to gather more data. In addition, requirements to include video cameras to provide visual images of the surface were specified. The prototype system was tested in a laboratory setting on a simulated aircraft panel. The design of the robot satisfied the mobility and manipulation requirements of the skin inspection application. The eddy current traces displayed on the computer monitor from the robotically deployed eddy current sensor were comparable to those from manually deployed eddy current sensors. Overall, the results of this phase of work indicate that robotic inspection tools designed to assist human inspectors hold great promise. Robotics, NDI, Eddy current, Data management, Sensor deployment, Navigation, Path planning, Robot control, Sensor calibration, Inspection robot, ANDI.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jun 01, 1994
- Accession Number
- ADA283500
Entities
People
- C. J. Alberts
- M. W. Siegel
- W. M. Kaufman
Organizations
- Carnegie Mellon University