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Automation in the aircraft industry is unique with respect to the overall application size and the intrinsic quality of the processes required. Aircraft systems are typically large when compared with conventional commercial and industrial products and composed of materials and subassemblies that, while not fragile, do require special care and consideration when automating their respective manufacturing processes. Automation has been applied in a host of diverse aircraft product areas, ranging from robotic turbine blade manufacture to automatic composite manufacturing work cells. In each case, aerospace automation differs from conventional, commercial product automation in the following significant areas: The production volume is typically low; batch sizes may often be as small as one unit per batch. The manufacturing processes aregoverned by an assortment of government and industry regulations that can be exacting in their requirements.