Automated Assembly of Large-Scale Aerospace Components: A Structured Narrative Survey of Emerging Technologies

Area of Science:

• Manufacturing Engineering
• Robotics
• Aerospace Engineering

Background:

• Large-scale aerospace components demand high precision assembly, challenging traditional methods.
• Current manufacturing struggles with efficiency, flexibility, and accuracy for complex aerospace structures.

Purpose of the Study:

• To review and structure advances in automated assembly for large aerospace components.
• To identify research gaps and future directions in aerospace automated assembly.

Main Methods:

• Structured literature review of pose adjustment mechanisms, digital measurement technologies, and trajectory planning/control.
• Classification of mechanisms into four categories and digital measurement into five branches.
• Analysis of five trajectory planning and control routes, emphasizing uncertainty and flexibility.

Main Results:

• Current research is fragmented across mechanism design, metrology, and control.
• Insufficient integration of uncertainty propagation and flexible deformation modeling hinders progress.
• Key themes include measurement uncertainty analysis and flexible assembly for high-quality docking.

Conclusions:

• Future aerospace assembly systems require heterogeneous equipment collaboration and uncertainty-aware control.
• High-fidelity flexible modeling and digital twin-driven decision-making are crucial for next-generation structures.
• This review offers a framework for developing reliable, flexible, and scalable automated assembly solutions.