The manufacturing industry continues to push the conventional boundaries of creating larger and more complex parts. The potential for costly errors also increases exponentially when producing large-scale, intricate components and assemblies. This emerging trend first initiated the idea of embedding metrology at touch points throughout the manufacturing process. What if a large part could be manufactured in a single process, and completely inspected and verified before it leaves the machine? What if this operation could be accomplished using a commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) robot?
Theoretically, it would be possible for a simple robot fixed on a rail to perform tasks that would typically require expensive numerical control (NC) machines, but this scenario breaks down when the parts are more than 20m long. Large COTS robots, especially when attached to overhead gantries or rails, are not nearly accurate or repeatable enough to perform such tasks. Additionally in this concept, the robot would need to employ an established metrology grade inspection process to verify the part is being manufactured within tolerance throughout the entire process, and produce an inspection report before the part leaves the manufacturing cell.