ROBOTIC ASSISTANTS FOR AIRCRAFT INSPECTORS

Aircraft flight pressurization/depressurization cycling causes the ski n to inflate and deflate, stressing it around the rivets that fasten i t to the airframe. The resulting strain, exacerbated by corrosion, dri ves the growth of initially microscopic cracks. To avoid catastrophe, aircraft are inspected periodically for cracks and corrosion. The insp ection technology employed is similar to 90 per cent naked-eye vision. We have developed and demonstrated robotic deployment of both remote enhanced 3D-stereoscopic video instrumentation for visual inspection a nd remote eddy current probes for instrumented inspection. This articl e describes the aircraft skin inspection application, how robotic depl oyment may alleviate human performance problems and workplace hazards during inspection, practical robotic deployment systems, their instrum entation packages, and our progress toward developing image enhancemen t and understanding techniques that could help aircraft inspectors to find cracks, corrosion, and other visually detectable damage.