SEATTLE—Boeing and the University of Washington are taking their collaboration to greater heights with a new campus research center where doctoral engineering students, UW professors and Boeing engineers will work side by side on projects focused on automating aircraft assembly processes.
EVERETT, WA—Boeing may deploy robots on its airplane assembly lines as early as next year. The company has been testing its Fuselage Automated Upright Build technology in secret over the past year and has found success drilling rivet holes on 777 fuselages. Boeing believes the FAUB will improve workplace safety and production speed.
MUNICH, Germany—Researchers in Germany have developed a novel, snake-like robot capable of tightening bolts in even the most difficult-to-access cavities of an aircraft’s wing structure.
BERLIN—Researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute for Factory Operation and Automation have developed a mobile robot that can move along with aerospace workers and assist them as they assemble and test parts.
EVERETT, WA—Boeing plans to deploy robotic assembly technology on the 777X that will dramatically change how the plane’s metal hull is built. The investment will enable Boeing to increase the production rate of the 777 beyond the current 100 jets per year.
REDDITCH, UK—GKN Aerospace has begun a project that aims to automate the assembly of aircraft structures with the goal of creating high-quality wing structures 30 percent faster than is possible today.
For decades, automotive engineers have looked to the aerospace industry for new ideas. Back in the 1930s and 1950s, Detroit was inspired by the sleek designs of innovative airplanes such as the Northrop Alpha and the Grumman F4F Wildcat.
