Aurora Flight Sciences Corporation

Auror Flight Scienes Corporation

Devin Richard Jensen

William Robert Bosworth

Margaret Reagan

Jae-Woo Choi

Konstantine Fetfatsidis

Andrew Kehlenbeck

Matthew G Hutchison

James Mcdaniel Snider Ii

Timothy Holifield

Waterjet cutting apparatus and related methods are disclosed herein. An example apparatus includes a tank defining a volume to contain a fluid therein, a fixture extending from the tank, and a tube extending from the tank, the tube to isolate the fixture and a part supported by the fixture from turbulence of the fluid disposed in the tank.

Waterjet cutting apparatus and related methods

An aircrew automation system may comprise an actuation system and a computer system having a processor and one or more interfaces. The computer system can be communicatively coupled with a flight control system of an aircraft and configured to generate control commands based at least in part on flight situation data. The actuation system is operatively coupled with the computer system and comprises a robotic arm, a force sensor, and a controller. The robotic arm can be configured to engage a cockpit instrument among a plurality of cockpit instruments. The force sensor is operably coupled to the robotic arm and configured to measure a force when the robotic arm makes contact with the cockpit instrument. The controller is operably coupled with the robotic arm and the force sensor.

Aircrew automation system and method with integrated imaging and force sensing modalities

A flexible landing gear system for a vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) aircraft is disclosed. The flexible landing gear system may comprise a mounting bracket, a plurality of flexible supports, and plurality of surface contactors. The mounting bracket may be configured to couple to the VTOL aircraft. Each of the plurality of flexible supports comprising a proximal end and a distal end. The plurality of flexible supports may be coupled to the mounting bracket at a proximal end. A surface contactor may be positioned at the distal end of each of the plurality of flexible supports. The low-friction contactor may be a lightweight spherical ball, while the flexible support may be a flexible semi-rigid wire comprising a tempered high-carbon steel.

Multi-point contact, flexed landing gear

A manufacturing monitoring system is disclosed. The manufacturing monitoring system comprises a manufacturing workspace. Technicians wearing force sensor and/or motion capture marker equipped gloves may work within the manufacturing workspace. Motion capture cameras may ring the manufacturing workspace. Motion data from the cameras and/or force data from the gloves may be sent to a remote workstation where they may be processed and analyzed. The workstation may produce quality assessment and/or training outputs based on the motion and/or force data.

Manufacturing monitoring system

A workpiece manipulation system to provide high-precision manipulation of a workpiece by an aircraft. The workpiece manipulation system comprises a lifting mechanism to couple with the aircraft, an end-effector, and a processor. The lifting mechanism includes one or more joint actuators to extend or retract the lifting mechanism relative to the aircraft. The end-effector includes an end-effector actuator to control an operation of the end-effector to manipulate the workpiece. The processor is communicatively coupled with the aircraft processor and configured to control operation of the end-effector actuator and the one or more joint actuators. In operation, the processor provides feedback to the aircraft.

Manipulation system and method for an aircraft

A micro-fiducial marker arrangement representing a unique ID that is readable by a camera during an imaging operation. The micro-fiducial marker includes a base substrate, a perimeter line, an orientation bar, and a plurality of bit cells. The base substrate may be a first color, while the perimeter line, the orientation bar, and the plurality of bit cells may be a color that is different from the first color. The perimeter line may be positioned on the base substrate and arranged to run along a perimeter of the base substrate. Each of said plurality of bit cells may be either the first color or the second color to represent a binary-coded datum.

Micro-fiducial for machine vision

An aircrew automation system that provides a pilot with high-fidelity knowledge of the aircraft's physical state, and notifies that pilot of any deviations in expected state based on predictive models. The aircrew automation may be provided as a non-invasive ride-along aircrew automation system that perceives the state of the aircraft through visual techniques, derives the aircraft state vector and other aircraft information, and communicates any deviations from expected aircraft state to the pilot. The aircrew automation may also monitor pilot health and, when needed, function as a robotic co-pilot to perform emergency descent and landing operations.

System and method for performing an emergency descent and landing

An aircrew automation system relates to the field of flight control systems, methods, and apparatuses; even more particularly, to a system, method, and apparatus for providing aircraft state monitoring and/or an automated aircrew employing a robotic arm with integrated imaging and force sensing modalities.

A triplex pneumatic architecture system is disclosed having first, second, and third pneumatic subsystems where triplex redundancy may be accomplished by measuring only one particular node in each system, such as a measured current of the servo valve. Each of the first, second, and third pneumatic subsystems are configured to control a separate redundant pneumatic actuation assembly. Each subsystem may comprise a current sensor to measure a control current from a servo driver to a servo valve that controls the pneumatic actuation assembly to output a measured current value, and a dump valve coupled to a relay. Each processor is configured to generate a termination signal to actuate the first relay to open the first dump valve. The triplex pneumatic architecture system further includes a communication bus to communicatively couple each of the first, second, and third pneumatic subsystems. Each processor is configured to generate the termination signal and to communicate the termination signal to one or more of the relays when one measured current value deviates from the two other measured current values by a predetermined error value.

Growing community of inventors

Cambridge, MA, United States of America

Devin Richard Jensen