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Aircraft wing geometry morphing is a technology that has seen recent interest due to demand for aircraft to improve aerodynamic performance for fuel saving. One proposed idea to alter wing geometry is by a modular morphing wing designed through a discretization method and constructed using variable geometry truss mechanisms (VGTM). For each morphing maneuver, there are sixteen possible actuation paths for each VGTM module. This paper proposes a method to find an optimal actuation path from the point of view of the longitudinal static stability. To do so, we locate the aerodynamic center (ac) and the center of gravity (cg) of each VGTM module which is first determined according to its morphed shape. Then, the ac and cg of the entire modular morphing wing can be determined and the stability margin can be computed. The two suggested methods to obtaining the ac for each VGTM module are the integration method and the geometry method.

Presented in this paper is a framework for the implementation of a robotic percussive riveting system, a new robot application for aircraft assembly. It is shown here that a successful robot application to the automation of a process requires in-depth research of the process and the interaction with the robot. For this purpose, a process planning-driven approach is proposed to guide a robot application research. A typical process planning will involve a list of key considerations including: process sequence, process parameters, process tooling, and process control. Through this list, a number of key research issues are identified for robotic percussive riveting, such as rivet pattern planning, riveting time determination, riveting tooling design and rivet insertion control. The detailed research on these issues has effectively created know-how for the successful implementation of our robotic percussive riveting system.