Variation Reduction Solutions Receives Third Contract for F-35 JSF Manufacturing Research
Variation Reduction Solutions, Inc. (VRSI, Plymouth, MI), an independent integrator of vision solutions, has received a Phase III Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) contract for robotic aerospace drilling development, bringing total SBIR grant monies received by VRSI to $10,000,000. The…
Posted: January 22, 2009
Variation Reduction Solutions, Inc. (VRSI, Plymouth, MI), an independent integrator of vision solutions, has received a Phase III Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) contract for robotic aerospace drilling development, bringing total SBIR grant monies received by VRSI to $10,000,000. The purpose of the project is to develop a vision-guided robotic drilling system that will automatically drill several thousand precision holes in the center fuselage of the F-35.
"We are honored to be chosen for a third time by the Air Force Research Lab (AFRL) and Joint Program Office (JPO) to work on this program? said VRSI president Myles Markey. ?We?re confident that we can enhance the technology we developed in our first two SBIR projects to build a flexible robotic system that will deliver significant manufacturing gains in drilling speed and accuracy.?
VRSI?s original AFRL project resulted in the successful development of an automated vision-guided robotic cell for inlet duct drilling on the F-35.
The new center fuselage project requires the drilling of approximately 4,000 holes per side through various stack-ups of composite and metal. Hole diameters range from 0.190 to 0.250 inches. Drilling of this type has traditionally been accomplished by large gantry machines, which have limited throughput and typically require major capital and infrastructure investment.
To automate the drilling process, VRSI will develop a robotic system that will use a metrology-guided robot to drill the holes and inspect the results with vision technology. To achieve the required accuracy, Markey said VRSI and its program partners will first work to enhance the physical robot to reach a specific tolerance before adding the metrology guidance. It is anticipated that the production systems will each contain up to four robots in order to accomplish the required drilling.
A prototype is expected to be complete by December of 2009 with hopes of a production system being complete by late 2010 for use in the aircraft assembly line.
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