Thomas W Needham

US Patent:

20210082261, Mar 18, 2021

Filed:

Sep 16, 2019

Appl. No.:

16/572110

Inventors:

- Manassas VA, US
Thomas Needham - Cambridge MA, US

Assignee:

Aurora Flight Sciences Corporation, a subsidiary of The Boeing Company - Manassas VA

International Classification:

G08B 6/00
G08B 21/02

Abstract:

Provided herein are systems to allow an operator to sense, for example, distance of a component from a component connector. The systems include a transmitter associated with the component connector, and a feedback device operable to contact the operator. The feedback device comprises a receiver operable to receive signals transmitted by the transmitter, and an actuator operable to provide haptic feedback to the operator in which, for example, strength, manner, or strength and manner of actuation of the actuator is determined by strength of the signals received by the receiver. Typically, the systems further allow the operator to engage the component to the component connector. Other aspects of the present disclosure provide various methods of allowing an operator to sense, for example, distance of a component from a component connector and to related computer readable media.

US Patent:

20200023537, Jan 23, 2020

Filed:

Jul 20, 2018

Appl. No.:

16/041264

Inventors:

- Manassas VA, US
William Robert Bosworth - Somerville MA, US
Thomas Richard Needham - Cambridge MA, US

Assignee:

Aurora Flight Sciences Corporation - Manassas VA

International Classification:

B26D 5/00
B26F 1/38
G05B 19/4093

Abstract:

Provided is a material-inspection system for planning a cutting pattern for a composite material sheet based on a detected defect. The system comprises one or more sensors to measure one or more material properties of the composite material sheet; a cutter assembly having a cutter tool to cut the composite material sheet; a control system comprising a processor and a storage medium comprising instructions, that when executed by the processor, configured to: obtain an initial cutting pattern for the composite material sheet, wherein the initial cutting pattern comprises a plurality of shapes to be cut; determine a defect in the composite material based on a sensor; determine a reject region in the composite material around the defect; shift one or more shapes of the plurality of shapes away from the reject region; and provide a revised cutting pattern based on the shifting to be cut by the cutter assembly.