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<p>Large-scale industrial structures such as aircraft fuselages and ship hulls present significant challenges for traditional machining and inspection due to their size, complex geometries, and limited accessibility. Mobile machining platforms offer a promising alternative but are constrained by low structural stiffness, difficulty establishing reliable spatial references in unstructured environments, and sensitivity to orientation changes under gravity. This study introduces a set of enabling technologies for autonomous mobile machining and inspection systems capable of operating directly on large, curved workpieces. Two mobile machining platforms were developed: a vacuum-adhering serial-kinematic machine for high-precision drilling and milling on aerospace components, and an electromagnetically adhering platform for heavy-duty milling on ship hull structures. Both systems demonstrated stable walking, high positioning accuracy, and reliable performance on inclined and vertical surfaces. Complementary autonomous inspection solutions were designed, including a wall-climbing robot and a rail-based drydock system for ultrasonic thickness measurement of ship hull plates, improving safety and reducing dependence on manual inspections. To achieve precise spatial referencing, a multilateration-based 3D coordinate measurement system using femtosecond laser absolute distance metrology was combined with a vision-based orientation sensing module, achieving ±50 μm of 3D position accuracy and ±0.05° angular precision. To overcome the low stiffness of mobile platforms, two machining strategies were proposed: a gyroscopic spindle actuator that actively suppresses cutting torque and low-frequency vibrations through inertial moment generation, and a multi-tool milling approach that passively reduces resultant cutting forces by up to 47% through optimized tool arrangements. Collectively, these technologies demonstrate the feasibility of lightweight, reconfigurable, and autonomous machine tools for large-scale industrial structures. Future research will focus on integrating position and orientation tracking into a unified six-degree-of-freedom metrology framework, enhancing actuator dynamics, and expanding capabilities to hard-to-machine materials, contributing to the realization of next-generation smart and flexible manufacturing systems.</p>

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Autonomous Mobile Machining and Inspection System Technology for Large-Scale Structures

  • 期刊论文

  • 发表日期：

    2025年9月1日

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  • Seung-Kook Ro,
  • Chang-Ju Kim,
  • Dae-Hyun Kim,
  • Sungcheul Lee,
  • Byung-Sub Kim,
  • Jeongnam Kim,
  • Jeong Seok Oh,
  • Gyungho Khim,
  • Seungman Kim,
  • Seongheum Han,
  • Quoc Khanh Nguyen,
  • Jongyoup Shim,
  • Segon Heo

摘要

Large-scale industrial structures such as aircraft fuselages and ship hulls present significant challenges for traditional machining and inspection due to their size, complex geometries, and limited accessibility. Mobile machining platforms offer a promising alternative but are constrained by low structural stiffness, difficulty establishing reliable spatial references in unstructured environments, and sensitivity to orientation changes under gravity. This study introduces a set of enabling technologies for autonomous mobile machining and inspection systems capable of operating directly on large, curved workpieces. Two mobile machining platforms were developed: a vacuum-adhering serial-kinematic machine for high-precision drilling and milling on aerospace components, and an electromagnetically adhering platform for heavy-duty milling on ship hull structures. Both systems demonstrated stable walking, high positioning accuracy, and reliable performance on inclined and vertical surfaces. Complementary autonomous inspection solutions were designed, including a wall-climbing robot and a rail-based drydock system for ultrasonic thickness measurement of ship hull plates, improving safety and reducing dependence on manual inspections. To achieve precise spatial referencing, a multilateration-based 3D coordinate measurement system using femtosecond laser absolute distance metrology was combined with a vision-based orientation sensing module, achieving ±50 μm of 3D position accuracy and ±0.05° angular precision. To overcome the low stiffness of mobile platforms, two machining strategies were proposed: a gyroscopic spindle actuator that actively suppresses cutting torque and low-frequency vibrations through inertial moment generation, and a multi-tool milling approach that passively reduces resultant cutting forces by up to 47% through optimized tool arrangements. Collectively, these technologies demonstrate the feasibility of lightweight, reconfigurable, and autonomous machine tools for large-scale industrial structures. Future research will focus on integrating position and orientation tracking into a unified six-degree-of-freedom metrology framework, enhancing actuator dynamics, and expanding capabilities to hard-to-machine materials, contributing to the realization of next-generation smart and flexible manufacturing systems.