Resilient Robotic Automation: Enhancing Efficiency and Safety in Aircraft Servicing

The NAVAIR needs innovative advanced servicing such as maintenance, assembly, and overhaul technologies to a) rapidly handle problems in aircraft systems and provide sustainability, b) significantly reduce overall costs and increase resiliency and, therefore, quality while ensuring safety. To achieve a) and b), advanced autonomous technologies in robotics are required, such as robust learning-based controls for repetitive tasks, timely control response for single or sequential operations in short life cycles, sensor fusion for reliable navigation, and obstacle avoidance for safety. To this end, in this project, ControlX will develop resilient and efficient control systems during the base period and reliable and safe navigation systems during the option period that exhibit flexibility in the sense of dynamically responding to changes in servicing demands as well as intelligence, robustness, and adaptation to the environmental changes as well as exogenous disturbances related to processes. In addition, a simulation environment via a Robot Operating System (ROS) will be created and utilized to validate these technologies in conditions that mirror the challenges faced in Fleet Readiness Centers (FRCs). By the end of Phase I, our work will lay the foundation for a robotic automation system that significantly boosts efficiency, resilience, and safety in aircraft servicing, directly supporting NAVAIR's mission to modernize FRCs and enhance Naval aviation readiness. We anticipate a Technology Readiness Level (TRL) of 4 by the end of Phase I. In Phase II, a complete prototype of the autonomous robotic system will be delivered.