Automated assembly lines have been the backbone of the automotive industry for decades. Robots are widely used to rivet and weld car bodies. But, in the aerospace sector, automation is more elusive when it comes to building fuselages and wings for commercial aircraft.

Traditionally, the process of producing airframes is a manual task that uses fixed gantries and other types of large monument machines. The intricate process of drilling, countersinking and riveting tubular structures has proven difficult to automate.