Rolls-Royce develops small robots

R olls-Royce as a manufacturer of luxurious automobiles is a BMW brand . However, there is still a manufacturer of aircraft turbines under the same name. In 1973 the two departments became two separate companies. Many current commercial aircraft from Airbus or Boeing have Rolls-Royce drives under their wings.

Cooperation between Rolls-Royce and Harvard University

Rolls-Royce is developing for the inspection of the turbines Holdings plc now small robots. Together with the Wyss Institute at Harvard University, the company has built the first prototypes that currently fit comfortably in one hand.

rch Aircraft turbines crawl to inspect all components and to be able to localize the cause in the event of malfunctions. There is no need for time-consuming dismantling work on parts where they are not necessary. Periscopes built into the engine, which are roughly the size of a pencil, serve as eyes and pass their data on to the robot swarm.

An insertion aid called 'snake robots' by the developers can deploy the inspection robots in the aircraft engine. It is not yet known when the miniaturization of robots will continue and when the first swarm will be deployed in an aircraft turbine.

The project is not only interesting for use in aircraft. Cars and trucks could also be examined with small robots, right up to the cleaning of filters in the exhaust system - at least until we all drive electrically.