David has a long checklist to go over, before his first morning flight leaves the runway. From the comfort of his dining room, over his morning coffee, he logs on remotely to the SR-SCARA-Pro robot situated in the cockpit. When activated, the robot arm quickly activates a well placed camera, and begins the pre-flight check of the instrument panel, physically activating the toggles, switches, and touch panel functions, to insure operational readiness. Satisfied with the results, David drives to the airport, knowing he will easily meet his departure schedule.
The above example illustrates the possible use of robotics in the Aviation Industry, which is struggling to meet a growing demand for travel and commerce. Commercial aircraft still utilize toggles and switches in the cockpit, along with State-of the Art touch panels. Much of the reasoning behind this involves the physical accuracy of switch activation in manual flight mode…it’s easy to make a slight error when using a touchpad, especially in the middle of a turbulent flight. Control panels must be rigorously tested, both in production, and during regular use.
Before now, instrument panels could not be accessed remotely, due to the need to physically activate toggles and switches. Enter SR-SCARA-Pro, a lightweight SCARA robot which can be customized for testing of commercial control panels.