Boeing was warned years ago that its plan to use robots inside and outside the body of fuselages wouldn't work to assemble sections of the 777X and 777, a Seattle aerospace executive says.

A Bloomberg News report this week revealed that jet maker is eliminating the use of riveting robots made by Kuka Systems. Instead, Boeing mechanics will insert fasteners into holes drilled along the circumference of fuselages used to build the 777 and 777X jets in Everett.

After enduring a manufacturing mess that spanned six years and cost millions of dollars as it implemented a large-scale robotic system for automated assembly of the 777 fuselage, Boeing has abandoned the robots and will go back to relying more on its human machinists.

Boeing said Wednesday it is adopting a different approach that “has proven more reliable, requiring less work by hand and less rework, than what the robots were capable of.”

Score one for the humans. After four years of trial and error, Boeing Co. is dumping one of its most ambitious forays into automation: the robots that build two main fuselage sections for its 777 jetliners and an upgraded version known as the 777X.

Instead, the Chicago-based planemaker will rely on skilled mechanics to manually insert fasteners into holes drilled along the circumference of the airplane by an automated system known as “flex tracks,” which it has honed over years of use on the 787 Dreamliner.

Electroimpact UK and the University of Nottingham are working together on project VADIS to generate a digital twin designed to improve quality and reduce assembly time for wing construction. Project VADIS entails "constructing a frame in which the aircraft skins can be scanned by sensors. This will then be used to create a digital model or twin of the wing, with all its surfaces and holes registered in the smallest detail. This model would then be used to build the corresponding parts so that they align seamlessly for that specific wing."

Dr. Murray thanked companies like The Boeing Company, Electroimpact, Crane Aerospace & Electronics, OceanGate, and Fluke Manufacturing for supporting our students with interdisciplinary, industry-related capstone projects