Aerobotix to demonstrate mobile robot for aerospace and defense sector

MADISON — Aerobotix, a Madison-based robotics integrator for the aerospace and defense industries, will demonstrate its new mobile robot at the WESTEC/AeroDef Manufacturing Conference next week.

These will be the first public demonstrations of the robot, which has been specifically designed for the aerospace and defense sector. It can be configured for applications including sanding, painting and inspection. The demonstration robot will perform automated tasks on aerospace components. The conference is Nov. 7-9 in Long Beach, Calif.

“As Aerobotix continues its groundbreaking work in mobile robots, we’re excited to bring this new technology to WESTEC/AeroDef,” said Josh Tuttle, Aerobotix business development manager. “Mobile robots are widely used in general manufacturing and warehousing but are still new to the aerospace and defense industries. T

“hey support the ‘factory of the future’ concept and offer significant benefits in labor and cost savings, output quality and worker safety.”

Aerobotix has been a pioneer in the use of mobile robots for aerospace and defense applications, partnering with Compass Technology Group to help build the first collaborative mobile robot for Air Force maintenance depots.

Developed under the Air Force’s Small Business Innovation Research program, the self-navigating Adaptive Radome Diagnostic System uses microwave signals to non-destructively evaluate aircraft radomes and identify defects such as delamination or water ingress. The ARDS won the top Defense Manufacturing Technology Achievement Award at the 2021 Defense Manufacturing Conference.

“The new mobile robot we’re demonstrating at WESTEC/AeroDef isn’t self-navigating like the ARDS but could be reconfigured to become self-navigating if the customer has that need,” said Tuttle. “A key strength of mobile robots is that they’re highly configurable and can be rapidly repurposed to serve multiple objectives in multiple locations.”