Rolls-Royce Develops Cockroach Robot to Fix Aircraft Engine

To check the aircraft, Rolls-Royce will commission a cockroach robot to crawl the narrow parts of the engine.

Robots from a company known as automotive and aircraft engine makers will detect problems and perform routine maintenance.

“They can get in and out quickly to different parts of the combustion chamber. (The thing) if we do it manually will spend up to five hours with the help of this small robot who knows it can be done in five minutes,” said Rolls- Royce, James Cell.

These cockroach robots are 1.5 centimetres in size and weigh less than a kilogram. These robots will be equipped with cameras and optical sensors to perform 3-dimensional scans.

With these ‘sensory tools,’ these robotic cockroaches can help engineers to find the cause of the damage without having to trace it on their own.

This cockroach robot can then be re-installed with certain devices to repair the damage.

This robot will work in pairs. One robot will go into the combustion chamber to check for damage or to clean the dust.

While one other robot will follow. This second robot is designed specifically for a particular job. This second robot can also be redesigned when the check is done to complete the repair. With this tandem system, the robot can directly perform simple tasks and diagnose problems.

Thus, low-skilled workers can also operate these robots. With this robot, they can diagnose problems while waiting for the engineers to remove the robot plug so it can be used to fix the problem.

Once fixed, the robot can be programmed to get out of the machine or destroyed simultaneously with the engine flame.

Currently, Rolls Royce has developed a prototype of this cockroach robot. But the size of the robot is still too large than expected. This robot is also still not ready to make improvements. It takes at least two years for these robots to be ready for use, as the source for The Next Web said on Wednesday (18/7).

Image Source : cnbc.com