A method of producing a shim (1500) for use in an aircraft, the method comprising: providing an aircraft airframe (200); measuring a surface of the airframe (200); creating a digital model of the airframe (200) using those measurements; providing an aircraft skin (1506); measuring a surface of the aircraft skin (1506); creating a digital model of the aircraft skin (1506) using those measurements; digitally assembling the digital model of the airframe (200) with the digital model of the aircraft skin (1506); using the digitally assembled models, creating a digital model of a shim (1500), the digital model of the shim (1500) substantially filling a gap between the digitally assembled digital models of the airframe (200) and the skin (1506); and producing a physical shim (1500) using the digital model of the shim(1500).

Systems and methods are provided for aligning a fastener feed mechanism. One embodiment is an apparatus that includes an alignment tool that aligns a fastener feed mechanism with a chamber of a fastening device that receives fasteners. The alignment tool includes a tip section having a diameter less than a diameter of the chamber, a chamber fit section that extends from an end of the tip section in a lengthwise direction and has a diameter corresponding with the diameter of the chamber, a lip that protrudes radially from the chamber beyond the diameter of the chamber, and a fitting member that extends from the lip in the lengthwise direction.

Systems and methods for learning software assisted, fixtureless object pickup and placement include a machine vision system to scan a part for pickup to measure target points at said part, retrieves weighted desired target points for the part from a controller, and performs an iterative analysis to determine a best fit solution for moving the part within a predetermined range of the desired target points. The best fit solution being determined by fitting vectors between each of the desired target points and the measured target points to develop a solution set. The best fit solution having the overall shortest length when said vectors are summed while prioritizing relatively higher weighted desired target points.

A method of producing a component part (202, 204) of an aircraft airframe (200), the method comprising: providing a first digital model, the first digital model being a digital model of the component part (202, 204); producing an initial physical part using the first digital model; measuring a surface of the initial physical part; creating a second digital model using the measurements of the surface of the initial physical part, the second digital model being a digital model of the initial physical part; specifying one or more fastener holes (606) in the second digital model; and drilling one or more fastener holes (606) in the initial physical part using the second digital model with the one or more fastener holes specified therein, thereby producing the component part (202, 204) of an aircraft airframe (200).

Manufacturing of a shoe or a portion of a shoe is enhanced by executing various shoe-manufacturing processes in an automated fashion. For example, information describing a shoe part may be determined, such as an identification, an orientation, a color, a surface topography, an alignment, a size, etc. Based on the information describing the shoe part, automated shoe-manufacturing apparatuses may be instructed to apply various shoe-manufacturing processes to the shoe part, such as a pickup and placement of the shoe part with a pickup tool.

A robot arm includes a plurality of links and rotary joints for connecting the links with each other. A cable (wire rod) for communicating a drive signal to a drive actuator of each rotary joint is provided along each link. A reaction force table storing a reaction force value generated by the wire rod when the joint is driven in a divided storage area divided for each dynamic drive control condition is provided in a control system. In a case where each rotary joint is driven, the control device controls each rotary joint on the basis of a reaction force value obtained by referring to the reaction force table in accordance with the drive control condition.

Systems and methods for assembling structural components are disclosed. The systems and methods consider a sequence, operations of the sequence, and an approach vector in placing structural members (including structural members with pre-attached fasteners) for assembling structural components.

Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on a computer storage medium, for an object feature identification system employed by a robotic are disclosed. In one aspect, a method includes the actions of generating a data reading of a work area by scanning the work area with a sensor device of the robot; identifying, by processing the data reading through a learning engine, a particular component of a plurality of components associated with the work area based on a task to be performed; identifying, with the machine learning engine, a particular feature of the particular component used in a completion of the task; determining, with the machine learning engine, a particular tool of a plurality of tools of the robot that is configured to perform the task; and performing the task with the particular tool and the particular feature of the particular component.

Methods, apparatus, systems, and articles of manufacture are disclosed for robot control. An example apparatus includes a command generator to instruct a robot to move an end effector from a staging position to an estimated pre-task position to perform a first task based on a first pose of the robot, the first pose based on a model, adjust the robot to a first actual pre-task position to perform the first task when the robot is to move to a second actual pre-task position, the first actual pre-task position proximate the estimated pre-task position, and direct the robot to perform a second task based on a correction factor, the correction factor is to be determined by determining a second pose of the robot, the second pose corresponding to position information associated with a post-task position, and calculating the correction factor based on the first pose and the second pose.

The vehicle body assembly station comprises main transport assembly for conveying a vehicle body along a first direction D1 in which at least one assembly robot is provided to move along a second direction D2, and temporary transport assembly whose operation is more accurate than that of the main transport assembly for moving the vehicle body independently from the main transport assembly while the assembly robot is performing operations on the vehicle body, whereby a new coordinate reference system is created by the temporary transport assembly.