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Surface-normal measurement is an essential part in robotic drilling system. A novel method to measure the surface-normal of aircraft skin is proposed in this paper. Resumptively, three laser range sensors evenly distributed around the drill bit are used to measure the distance from them to aircraft skin within a small area. So the coordinates of three measured points can be obtained, and the normal vector is calculated from the cross product of any two vectors that are tangent to the surface at the drilling point. The simulation results and experiment conducted on an aeronautical drilling robot validate the precision and efficiency improvement of the drilling. The presented method is appropriate for intelligent robotic drilling for aircraft fuselage.

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This paper describe a design of aircraft drilling end-effector (ADEE) based on flexible railway which is mainly used for drilling on the surface of fuselage and wing of aircraft. The whole system is composed of several different modules. Flexible railway module (FRM) make ADEE move to any places where need to be drilled. Framework and Z axis module (FZM) uses high-rigidity framework and linear slide guide to guarantee the precision and stability of the drilling action. Compression and absorbing chipping module (CACM) adopts symmetric doublecylinder structure and generates 1000N compressing forces that can compress three layers aircraft skin and is increased by demand. Vacuous absorbing chipping mechanism uses high flow vacuum generator as vacuum air source and filters metal shavings by filter. Visual inspection module (VIM) can precisely calculate the distance between three points around drill bit and finished surface by calculating, and then achieves verticality deviation value through normal detection algorithm. Binary angular adjustment module (BAAM) revises angle deviation that is caused by the differences of adsorption position diameter of two rows of rack. ADEE is more flexible and better adaptable; meanwhile, it can greatly improve the efficiency and precision of the holes. It does not use drilling fluids in the whole manufacturing process and fundamentally eliminates the pollution problem of the drilling fluid. In conclusion, experiments show that ADEE can meet the requirements of automatic drilling of departments of aircraft and greatly enhance the quality and speed of drilling holes.