Automated Aircraft Ground Refueling

Stratom, Inc has developed a proof-of-concept system for automatic aircraft refueling using an industrial robotic arm combined with a sophisticated machine vision system that provides for precise control of the arm given random locations of the refueling panel.

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• robotic
• robotic refueling
• automated refueling
• industrial arm
• labview
• machine vision
• visual servoing

[kalanike]

Nice invention, but all the time it took for that robot to scan where all the locks are, I would've gotten that panel opened up and the nozzle locked in and the fuel flowing.

[StratomInc]

@kalanike Some counter points for you. 1) This is a technology demonstrator, thus optimizing the system to beat human speed was not a goal. Since this video, new technologies have been identified and software changes made to reduce the time. 2) One of the objectives is to increase refueling throughput. So while you started the process faster, having you stand at the aircraft for 10+ minutes (or longer) waiting for it to fill is a waste of manpower when you could be inspecting the next aircraft.

[stavroschk]

Nice concept but your arguments of waste manpower i think that they are Bias. Automating this process in case of hardware or software failure will probably cause tragic and catastrophic conditions.

And by the way @kalanike has a point that machine is wasting time scanning.

@stratominc your counter point number 2. Airports work this way for many years with out wasting manpower. One man refuels one airplanes and stays there for evaluating the refueling process can a robot inspect if is a leak?

[kalanike]

@StratomInc Thanks for the reply...I'm glad you have (2 answers) for me. I understand about speed because that really wasn't the issue in this case, but why would you have multiple robots at each station? what's the point of that? Would the programming be precise for each aircraft serviced even if there are 15 aircraft waiting to be fueled? Would the system be able to fuel such aircraft like the Airbus A380 or is this strictly for military use? as an aircraft refueler...