Conventional skid or wheel based helicopter landing gears severely limit off-field landing possibilities, which are crucial when operating in scenarios such as mountain rescue. In this context, slopes beyond 8 • and small obstacles can already pose a substantial hazard. An adaptive landing gear is proposed to overcome these limitations. It consists of four legs with one degree of freedom each. The total weight was minimized to demonstrate economic practicability. This was achieved by an innovative actuation, composed of a parallel arrangement of motor and brake, which relieves the motor from large impact loads during hard landings. The loads are alleviated by a spring-damper system acting in series to the actuation. Each leg is individually force controlled for optimal load distribution on compliant ground and to avoid tipping. The operation of the legs is fully autonomous during the landing phase. A prototype was designed and successfully tested on an unmanned helicopter with a maximum takeoff weight of 78 kg. Finally, the implementation of the landing gear concept on aircraft of various scales was discussed.

Additive manufacturing (AM), particularly laser-based powder bed fusion of metals (LPBF), enables the fabrication of complex and customized metallic parts. However, 20–40% of the total manufacturing costs are usually attributed to post-processing steps. To reduce the costs of extensive post-processing, the process chain for AM parts has to be automated. Accordingly, robotic gripping and handling processes, as well as an efficient clamping for subtractive machining of AM parts, are key challenges. This study introduces and validates integrated bolts acting as a handling and clamping interface of AM parts. The bolts are integrated into the part design and manufactured in the same LPBF process. The bolts can be easily removed after the machining process using a wrench. This feasibility study investigates different bolt elements. The experiments and simulations conducted in the study show that a force of 250 N resulted in a maximum displacement of 12.5 µm. The milling results of the LPBF parts reveal a maximum roughness value, Ra, of 1.42 µm, which is comparable to that of a standard clamping system. After the bolt removal, a maximum residual height of 0.067 mm remains. Two case studies are conducted to analyze the form deviation, the effect of bolts on build time, and material volume and to demonstrate the application of the bolts. Thus, the major contribution of this study is the design and the validation of standardized interfaces for robotic handling and clamping of complex AM parts. The novelties are a simple and clean interface removal, less material consumption, less support structure required, and finally an achievement of a five-side tool accessibility by combining the interfaces with a three-jaw chuck.

Additive manufacturing (AM), particularly laser-based powder bed fusion of metals (LPBF), enables the fabrication of complex and customized metallic parts. However, 20–40% of the total manufacturing costs are usually attributed to post-processing steps. To reduce the costs of extensive post-processing, the process chain for AM parts has to be automated. Accordingly, robotic gripping and handling processes, as well as an efficient clamping for subtractive machining of AM parts, are key challenges. This study introduces and validates integrated bolts acting as a handling and clamping interface of AM parts. The bolts are integrated into the part design and manufactured in the same LPBF process. The bolts can be easily removed after the machining process using a wrench. This feasibility study investigates different bolt elements. The experiments and simulations conducted in the study show that a force of 250 N resulted in a maximum displacement of 12.5 µm. The milling results of the LPBF parts reveal a maximum roughness value, Ra, of 1.42 µm, which is comparable to that of a standard clamping system. After the bolt removal, a maximum residual height of 0.067 mm remains. Two case studies are conducted to analyze the form deviation, the effect of bolts on build time and material volume and to demonstrate the application of the bolts. Thus, the major contribution of this study is the design and the validation of standardized interfaces for robotic handling and clamping of complex AM parts. The novelties are a simple and clean interface removal, less material consumption, less support structure required and finally an achievement of a five-side tool accessibility by combining the interfaces with a three-jaw chuck.

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