Project Team
Siemens (Principal Investigator), Gray Matter Robotics, and Northrop Grumman
Background
This technology project was selected from the ARM Institute’s 25-01 Core-Funded Tech Project Call that addressed the following special topic areas:
- Rapid Re-Tasking and Robot Agility
- Multi-Robot, Multi-Human Collaboration
- Adaptive Real-Time Path Planning and Control
In addition to these Special Topic Areas, the ARM Institute, in collaboration with the institute Technical Advisory Committee (TAC), government partners, and other consortium experts, outlined the following manufacturing areas of interest that project teams were encouraged to leverage as example use cases: (1) casting and forging, (2) manufacturing of hypersonics, (3) manufacturing of energetics, (4) manufacturing of garments and other textile goods, and (4) robotic inspection in confined spaces.
Project Description
A critical limitation in current aerospace and defense manufacturing is the lack of integration between traditional automated metrology systems and virtual commissioning, particularly in high-mix part production environments. Frequent reprogramming to inspect varied part geometries creates bottlenecks, pushing companies toward manual, error-prone, and costly methods. This Project Team will work to address this gap through a robotic inspection system integrated with a digital twin tool for the dimensional verification of aircraft components in a high-mix inspection line, where the work is currently predominantly done manually. By addressing the integration gap between virtual commissioning and metrology, this project will enhance manufacturing agility, improve product quality, and strengthen competitiveness in both defense and commercial sectors.