R&D 100 winner of the day: Laser Coating Removal Robot (LCR robot)

The Laser Coating Removal Robot (LCR robot), developed by Southwest Research Institute, is the only known solution for commercial and cargo-sized robotic coating removal in the world that is capable of removing the full range of aircraft coatings (all colors and clearcoat). There are no other comparable laser coating removal solutions. The LCR uses the largest specialized CO2 commercially available laser on the largest mobile manipulator. It includes intelligent process monitoring and control to very precisely control the coating removal process (remove topcoat only or remove coatings all the way down to the substrate). The product integrates this high-power laser system into a large 8-DOF robot based on a 3 DOF-AGV platform with 3D auto orientation capabilities while it is operating autonomously. The product is unique in industry (nothing like it to reach the full range of an aircraft), faster (a key business value), supports a drastic reduction in the CO₂ footprint, and stops the unhealthy work of the traditional depaint processes.