Insphere leads Accurate and Flexible Automation Systems

Accurate and Flexible Automation Systems (ACCUFAS)

Insphere has won funding from NATEP (National Aerospace Technology Exploitation Programme) to develop our IONA technology to accelerate the adoption of robotics for challenging aerospace manufacturing tasks.

Insphere will lead the project, titled Accurate and Flexible Automation Systems (ACCUFAS). By partnering with University of Sheffield AMRC Factory 2050 we will ensure that it is delivered in world-class facilities by a team of highly skilled and experienced research engineers. Spirit Aerospace have given their support to the project and will contribute industrially-relevant use cases.

This was an extremely competitive funding round and the project was successfully backed due to the strong research team, the highly-innovative IONA technology, and the huge market pull for increasing automation to meet future demands in the sector.

Robots are inexpensive and flexible to use for manufacturing tasks, but it has been challenging to deploy them for tasks where high accuracy is essential. The project will use the IONA sensor network to track robots accurately and will employ artificial intelligence (AI) to create a self-correcting system that can achieve aerospace accuracy.

The project will develop and showcase new methods of deep learning from complex datasets, unlocking the potential for widespread introduction of high-accuracy robotics, and securing a significant benefit to advanced manufacturing in the UK.