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The next-generation robotics shaping the future of engine maintenance and repair

When creating the next generation of jet engines, thinking differently is required. Aircraft manufacturers take inspiration from wildlife to create the most aerodynamic, efficient designs. We’re also looking to nature, but less to the skies, and more to the undergrowth. 

Using creepy crawly robots to take a closer look at an engine

Small enough to sit in the palm of your hand: a Rolls-Royce SWARM robot

Using creepy crawly robots to take a closer look at an engine

Our SWARM bug robots creep and crawl through engines, capturing images of what they see. They operate in a swarm, scurrying to different corners of the engine. We take the images, piece them together, and gain an incredibly detailed view of the inside of an engine. We’re working with the smartest minds from The University of Nottingham and Harvard University, putting the robots through their tiny paces in the lab before testing them in the real world.

Through the eyes of a COBRA

A remote-controlled robot gets to work

Through the eyes of a COBRA

We call our snake robots COBRA, which sounds like something from a superhero movie, but is actually a long, thin, remote-controlled robot with augmented reality and repair capabilities.

As the robot moves through the engine it gives our engineers, who are equipped with a virtual reality (VR) headset, a snake’s eye view of what it is seeing through a VR platform. The engineer is completely immersed in what the snake is seeing.

The advantage of this technology is the inspection can be performed remotely wherever COBRA is available, so there is no need to physically send an engineer to the site.

Two’s company

Slithering one step closer to our IntelligentEngine vision: snake robots repair coatings inside an engine

Two’s company

In the same snake family as COBRA is project FLARE:  two robotic snakes working together to repair coatings inside the combustion chamber, without taking the engine off the wing. This year FLARE reached a new milestone when alongside The University of Nottingham and Metallisation, our engineers introduced the snakes into a real engine in our lab for the first time, and successfully tested the product. This is a huge achievement, and brings FLARE one step closer to being used outside of the lab.

Once approved and in service, these technologies will both increase the speed at which we can repair engines and increase aircraft availability across our fleet.

Turns out nature can inspire some futuristic ideas. Who knows what other creatures will shape the future of engine maintenance? We’ll see you at the zoo.

Pioneering the IntelligentEngine

The making of a vision. Our IntelligentEngine takes form.

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