Agile Wire Harness Manipulation and Installation for Unmanned Aerial Systems

SBIR topic DAF27BZ01-DV011 (U.S. Department of Defense – Air Force), Phase I and II. Open to U.S. small businesses. Opens: October 28, 2026. Closes: November 25, 2026. Context & BackgroundModern Department of Defense (DoD) manufacturing and depot sustainment environments increasingly depend on agile automation to scale up production and maintain rapid operational readiness. While automated assembly technologies have matured substantially for rigid components with predictable geometries, the handling of flexible materials remains a persistent challenge. Specifically, wire harness routing, connector inspection, and insertion operations are ubiquitous across the production lines of Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS), advanced munitions families, and autonomous collaborative platforms. Currently, these intricate electrical assembly processes represent a bottleneck in UAS assembly operations. Assembly technicians must manually route non-rigid cables through confined structural cavities and execute high-precision connection steps under high-mix, low-volume production conditions. Traditional industrial robotics break down when tasked with these operations because flexible wiring deforms unpredictably during manipulation, completely violating the rigid-part assumptions and fixed, hard-tooled rules of standard automation. Problem, Opportunity, & Unmet Need The complete reliance on manual wire harness installation creates a critical capability deficiency that severely penalizes DoD manufacturing agility and surge capacity. Manual operations are fundamentally non-scalable, meaning production lines cannot dynamically "ramp-to-rate" to meet sudden spikes in theater demand. Furthermore, manual wire routing and insertion introduce human-induced variability, resulting in unquantifiable defects such as partially seated connectors, overstressed wires, or compromised bend radii. These latent defects frequently slip past standard visual inspections and surface as catastrophic electrical…