Professor Phil Webb

Areas of expertise

• Aerospace Manufacturing
• Industrial Automation

Background

Phil moved to Cranfield in 2009 and holds the Royal Academy of Engineering and Airbus Chair in Aero-structure Design. He was previously an Associate Professor and the head of the Robotics Research Group at the University of Nottingham.

For the last 13 years Phil has been conducting research into the application of automation to aircraft and aero-engine structural assembly. During this time he has worked with most of the world’s leading aerospace companies. He has completed many research projects including fuselage assembly, robotic riveting, engine structural assembly, wing and pylon systems installation and robotic plasma welding and has obtained significant research funding from Industry, EPSRC and the European Framework programmes. His other research interests are the application and optimisation of Parallel Kinematic Machines within aerospace manufacturing and mobile robotics.

Phil is a member of the Council of the British Automation and Robotics Association and represents the UK on the General Assembly of the International Federation of Robotics. He is also a member of the SAE Automated Assembly and Fastening Committee.

Current activities

Phil is the head of the Integrated Systems Department and leads the Aero-structure Assembly and Systems Installation Research Group and is currently leading a number of projects on aero-structure assembly and aircraft systems installation. As the Deputy Director of the EPSRC Centre in Intelligent Automation is involved in a significant number of projects on advanced automation and especially human collaborative automation and robotics.

Clients

Major Clients include:

• Airbus Operations
• Rolls-Royce
• BAE Systems.

Publications

• Articles in journals
• Conference papers
• Books