BARC

Boeing and University of Washington (UW) have opened a new research centre in the US to focus on aircraft and spacecraft assembly and manufacturing technologies.

A part of UW’s department of mechanical engineering, the Boeing Advanced Research Center will bring together students, faculty members and Boeing engineers.

Boeing Commercial Airplanes president and CEO Ray Conner said: "We’re pleased to strengthen our long-standing partnership with the University of Washington and look forward to working side by side with students and faculty on the cutting-edge challenges of our industry."

"It supports an exciting new trend in education where students learn by doing, along with close interaction with industry."

Boeing is providing funds for four initial projects on automation, robotics, and aircraft assembly, as part of a two-year contract.

University of Washington mechanical engineering professor and chair Per Reinhall said: "We get to have some of the most significant aeroplane manufacturing and design issues come through this lab.

"It supports an exciting new trend in education where students learn by doing, along with close interaction with industry."

As part of the projects, the teams will work to automate and streamline the aircraft assembly and manufacturing processes, which plays a key role in Boeing’s product development.

The projects will focus on developing little robots that could help in manufacturing aircraft wings, automating the riveting of fuselages and predicting the final shape of aircraft structures.

Image: (left to right) UW president Michael Young, Ray Conner, governor Jay Inslee and UW College of Engineering dean Michael Bragg at the opening ceremony of research centre. Photo: courtesy of U of Wash.