The engine giant, the British Rolls Royce, develops a series of small intelligent robots in the form of cockroaches. The aim of this project is to use them in aircraft engines and thus to eliminate any faults that may occur even from a distance.
Swarming robots are about the size of a cockroach – about 10 mm in diameter – and would carry small cameras that would allow the operator to transmit live video so that he can perform a quick visual inspection of the engine without having to remove it from the aircraft. Rolls Royce is working on the project with engineers from Harvard and Nottingham universities.
According to Engadget, Rolls-Royce also showed another robot with a similar physiognomy to the periscope (Inspect robot), which could be integrated into an engine and could inform about possible repairs.
Snake-like robots were also exhibited, whose flexible design would allow them to drive through an engine, something like an endoscope, and then work with the swarm to carry out repairs.
Finally, Rolls-Royce showed that its remote controls can be installed in an engine by almost anyone and controlled remotely by an expert. This would prevent a company specialist from having to travel to the location of an aircraft to carry out certain repairs.
“While some of these technologies, such as Swarm robots, are far from commonplace, others, such as the Remote Wipe robot, are already being tested and will be introduced in the next few years,” says James Kell, a specialist at the British company.