Accessing small interior spaces, such as wing bays, during assembly and/or maintenance can be challenging. In many cases, workers access such interior spaces through various access ports, such as ports formed in the bottom skin panels of the wings and through the wing ribs. This type of human access requires sufficient large ports, which puts limitation on scaling of various components. For example, a certain minimal wing thickness is needed for access. Furthermore, external access ports need to be closed and even sealed during operation of aircraft. Finally, many interior spaces have uneven topography such as internal ribs extending from wing skin panels, which makes it difficult to navigate robotic systems during access. What is needed is a system for accessing small interior spaces, such as wing roots and wing tips, and capable of navigating within these spaces which would allow reduction in the number and/size of access ports.
USPTO Backgrounds
USPTO Backgrounds