VECTURA: new low-cost robotic system for drilling material stacks

CATEC and Aernnova have attended the “Aerospace Manufacturing and Automated Fastening Conference & Exhibition”, held at the beginning of October in Bremen (Germany), where they presented the results of the VECTURA project, an initiative consisting in the development of a robust and low-cost automatic system for drilling aluminum stacks for the aeronautical industry.

Raul Cano, Head of Automation and Robotics Department of FADA-CATEC, and Oscar Ibañez de Garayo and Miguel Ángel Castillo, technology managers of Aernnova, were in charge of presenting the results.

The VECTURA project, supported by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and co-financed along with the European Regional Development's funds (FEDER), has recently proposed the development of a robotic drilling system based on the use of low-cost equipment and flexible software tools.

This option is a proper solution for non very demanding drilling operations like those typically performed manually by operators on small size sub-assemblies. The proposed system can provide the required accuracy and surface finishing for the majority of these holes. It is currently being improved to achieve an even better performance thanks to its continuity in the CEMTAURO project, which is also being developed by Aernnova and CATEC.