Rotor Blade Robotic Coating System a GO!

Aerobotix just completed the installation, programming, and acceptance testing of a robotic system to apply advanced coatings to the leading edges of military helicopter blades. A FANUC P250iA on an elevated rail was custom configured to fit in an existing paint spray booth to reduce program cost and schedule. Three blades, up to 33′ long, can be coated with three different coatings to meet the government requirements. Aerobotix exceeded the customers expectations by developing a low cost, automatic laser locating system that mounts to the robot arm. The robot articulates the laser over the blades and automatically shifts the existing path programs to allow ‘loose’ tooling to be used. “If the end user was required to build new, accurate tooling this program might not have been cost effective” says Scott Pfeifer, the engineer that developed the new code.