X-RAYLAB GmbH & Co. KG has moved its RoboCT computed tomography system out of aerospace test labs and onto automotive production floors, where engineers now scan complete vehicle assemblies for hidden defects without disassembling them first. Developed with the Fraunhofer EZRT X-ray Center, RoboCT replaces the fixed gantry of a conventional CT scanner with at least two industrial robots that carry an X-ray source and detector around a stationary object, rather than rotating the part itself.
That swap solves a problem that has kept large components out of CT scanners entirely. Side frames, doors, tailgates, and aerospace fuselage sections are either too heavy or too large to mount on the precision rotation stages that laboratory CT systems rely on. RoboCT sidesteps the issue by keeping the object still and letting the robots do the moving, then correcting for their comparatively loose positioning accuracy with what Fraunhofer describes as "patented intelligent algorithms" applied during image reconstruction.
The interesting part for metrology engineers is where the precision actually comes from. Industrial robots position far less accurately than the air-bearing axes of a laboratory CT system, yet RoboCT still resolves detail down to 50 microns, based on a vertical circular 3D CT scan run at a 200-degree angular range with 1,001 projections on a carbon-fiber test segment. That accuracy comes from geometric calibration software rather than mechanical precision, a tradeoff that lowers hardware cost but shifts the burden onto the reconstruction algorithm.
Scale is the other headline figure. The smallest RoboCT configuration occupies roughly 5 by 6 by 3 meters and handles objects up to 5 by 3 by 3 meters. Scaled-up installations reach housings as large as 30 by 10 by 5 meters, enough to scan components up to 30 meters long and 6 meters wide, a size range that covers full vehicle chassis, wind turbine blades, and aircraft fuselage sections. The system runs a full 2D scan first, then a digital twin of the object determines which regions warrant a high-resolution 3D CT pass.
RoboCT ships as a turnkey package, with the robot hardware, X-ray booth, calibration and reconstruction software, installation, and operator training included. Optional additions include a rotary table and extra robots carrying microfocus X-ray sources for finer resolution on specific regions.
X-RAYLAB has already used the system to stitch a radioscopic image of a 7,000-millimeter carbon-fiber sailplane fuselage at 91,261 by 20,832 pixels, and a separate 8,000-millimeter glass-fiber wing at 101,120 by 12,160 pixels, both scanned in one pass without cutting the parts down to lab-sized sections.
