Ergonomic robot vehicle helps workers inspect tires safely

  • Published
  • By Holly J. Logan
  • Warner Robins Air Logistics Center Public Affairs
ROBINS AIR FORCE BASE, Ga. (AFPN) --  Lifting aircraft tires for inspection used to be a back-breaking job, but thanks to a little engineering and creativity, it is not that way anymore.

David Moniz and Darren Rew, aircraft mechanics in the maintenance directorate’s C-5 Galaxy wheel and tire shop here, used to lift 250-pound tires and rims by hand to get them mounted for inspection and in place for reassembly.

The recent addition of the Ergo Control 300 Robot, a 5-foot-tall tire and wheel vehicle with movable fixtures, has lightened the load.

“Roughly, there are 28 wheel assemblies for every C-5 that comes through our shop,” Mr. Moniz said. “We tear them down, inspect them, rebuild them, assemble them and certify that they’re in accordance with the tech data, as far as safety compliances. If there aren’t any defects, we send them back out to the C-5 landing gear shop to go on the aircraft.”

The wheel transportation dolly and the robot’s L-shaped arm make the one-hour process a lot safer, Mr. Moniz said.

“It rotates the tire up and puts it in whatever position we need to install the hardware for fusing the tire back together, and it’s all done electronically now,” he said. “It has (made) a job that used to take two people … into a one-person job.”

Jim Howard, a safety specialist for the maintenance directorate and ergonomic working group representative, headed the $86,000 project and said safety is the No. 1 concern for the shop.

“It’s not cheap to protect our employees, but it’s worth it,” he said. “Our main job out here is to produce, but we have to do it safely.”

The same ergonomic equipment used in the shop may be modified to help workers in the C-130 Hercules shop, Mr. Howard said.

The enhancement is the sixth ergonomic working group project for maintenance work areas, ensuring worker safety while meeting mission requirements.