7 hours ago
- Science
- South China Morning Post
Study shows how robots replaced master workers in Chinese military drone factory
In a Beijing
defence drone facility, a black carbon-fibre body frame sits on a workstation ready for drilling. The material is light and strong, but a fractional error in angle or positioning could affect stealth performance and lead to the scrapping of the entire part.
Master technicians once performed this task – breath held, hands steady – relying on years of muscle memory. Despite their skill, human limitations capped the speed of production and kept costs high.
That changed with a breakthrough from the China Academy of Space Technology (CAST) that has transformed the production line and reduced the margin of error for this task to a mere 0.04-0.1mm.
A robot now stands on the factory floor, its powerful arm positioning a precision parallel mechanism ending with a drill bit. Real-time sensors mimic human touch, adjusting pressure for perfect vertical holes and countersinks – twice as fast as humans and with no quality rejects.
The workshops that hum as they produce items without workers cheaper, faster, and flawlessly consistent, are challenging the old 'Made in China' stereotypes. There are no sweatshops, no stolen IP, just cold, smart machines.
In a paper published by the peer-reviewed Chinese-language journal Manufacturing Technology & Machine Tool in April, CAST researcher Le Yi and his team noted that global military trends were developing towards unmanned and intelligent operations.
