Q5D Technologies is delivering a £1.7m project in collaboration with the University of Sheffield Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre (AMRC) to accelerate automation within the aerospace industry by using a novel robotic solution to add embedded wiring into complex aircraft components.

Project LiveWire, led by Bristol-based Q5D, aims to automate the manufacture of airline seating components and control systems by embedding wiring into the structures that make up these parts, helping reduce costs and build lighter, higher-quality components.

Wiring in aircraft currently takes place by hand, making it an expensive and laborious process that is prone to errors and can cause failures and sometimes even fires. As part of the project, Q5D created a five-axis robotic tool that can add wiring to a complex shaped component in a new, improved way.

For its part, the AMRChad to devise a proof-of-concept solution to calculate the position and rotation of a workpiece that would enable the robot to automate the process of embedding wiring. In addition, the AMRC had to create integrated validation processes for quality inspection.

The benefits of automating the robot path using a vision system will provide Q5D’s robotic technology with greater flexibility to adapt to dynamic environments. Making automatic adjustments to the robotic path on the fly will also increase productivity as it will decrease the manual programming required.

Even though the project looked at a pathway for use in the aerospace sector, the concept is transferable to any robotics automation system.
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