ROBAIR: Mobile Robotic System to Inspect Aircraft Wings and Fuselage

The ROBAIR project is developing a robotic system for the non-destructive testing of rows of rivets and surfaces on the wings and fuselage of commercial aircraft. The system can climb on the outside surfaces of aircraft wings and fuselage and deploy a payload of sensors with a scanning arm. The payload of sensors consists of ultrasonic phased arrays and compression probes, an acoustic camera, eddycurrent sensors and a thermographic camera. This paper focuses on the climbing robot that carries a Cartesian scanning arm and payload of sensors while walking on the topside and underside of wings and on varying surface curvatures presented by the fuselage of different types of aircraft