How to Build 1: Learning Zone How to Build...

Many of the things that we work on are mission critical.

They save lives, they protect our troops.

The single biggest killer of British troops in Helmand, the roadside bomb.

Some 80% of British deaths at the hands of the Taliban

are down to these, improvised explosive devices.

Robots are an increasingly important part of engineering today.

QinetiQ is an international company.

One of the things they specialise in is robotic engineering.

So, it's quite simple. That's battery levels, video signal,

so now you've got the video signal level, which is useful.

When used in potentially dangerous areas,

robots can protect human lives, making them hugely valuable.

The wars in Afghanistan and Iraq are forcing QinetiQ engineers here

to continually redesign their robots to deal with the latest threats.

TALON robots are used to reduce the risk to soldiers' lives.

Here, the teams produce an army of up to 100 robots every single month.

TALONS are built to be repaired in battle.

Their major parts can be removed quickly, using fast-release pins.

The robots enable soldiers to keep a safe distance,

1,200 metres away from explosive devices.

There's a misconception about the use of robots in the battlefield.

There are no autonomous robots making their own decisions.

They're human-operated machines, where the human decides

where it goes, how fast it goes, what it does when it gets there.

It allows a soldier in a battlefield to have an arm that's a mile long.

Most of TALON's clever design specifications

are a closely-guarded secret.

But their electric motors are powerful enough to pull a small car.

They're equipped with up to four hi-spec cameras,

allowing their operators a 360-degree view.

And with infra-red and night vision, TALONs can see in the dark.

In fact, they can see better than humans in the dark.

The TALON uses a manoeuvrable gripper and arm to perform tasks.

A key design feature is that it can be replaced quickly and easily.

New arms are attached to the robot in less than 20 minutes,

because that arm is what gets blown up many, many, many times.

We want an expendable hand.

But these clever robots are not just used on the battlefield.

They can be modified to enter other deadly environments.

Jen Pagani is a sensor specialist,

who has worked with robots for six years.

She's currently adapting robots to be used by civilian rescue services.

This quick-release rack has an array of detection instruments.

One of the sensors is a toxic industrial chemical detector.

Another sensor is a radiation detector.

And we have a detection instrument that is a confined-space gas monitor,

so it'll detect combustible gases and other gas-type threats.

We also have a temperature sensor on this specific robot as well.

Thank you.

We're just going to verify all of the detection instruments

are communicating back to the operator control unit.

Test one.

MACHINE BEEPS

Communications check.

Check.

The gases TALON detects are so deadly,

Jen uses a safe chemical substitute to check its sensors are working.

ALARM SOUNDS

-Clear?

-Clear.

-OK.

Jen has been working with colleagues in the UK on this new project.

It'll tell you chlorine and carbon dioxide.

But it'll also tell you your combustible limits as well.

Could we put a different sensor with it, or would that be complicated?

We'll get that right over to you and test it out.

It would be really great to hear feedback from the London Fire Brigade

of which sensor they like better.

OK, I'll let you know how we get on when we get it.

Great. Thanks, Rob. Talk to you soon.

This work means TALON robots are being deployed on streets in the UK,

used by the London Fire Service.

Here, a specialist team are already on 24-hour standby

to be called to industrial fires.

The idea is that we're a hazardous materials response team,

so that if the fire brigade encounters a situation

where hazardous materials are involved,

we can give them the stand-off to keep their guys safe

by deploying robotic vehicles.

TALON and its big brother, Bison,

are operated from a custom-fitted vehicle.

So this is the command centre of the van,

so we can record all the video feeds from all of the robots,

including the van cameras, and everything that's going on,

automatically for forensic evidence

if the fire brigade needs it at a later date.

If this London experiment works,

not only will we see robots on the battlefield,

but also on the streets of the UK,

as they deal with emergency chemical incidents,

potentially saving hundreds of lives.

The submarine's huge. It's 100 metres long, it's three decks deep.

There is no inch of the submarine similar to another inch of it.

I would definitely put it in the same league as the space shuttle,

or projects of that size.

To my mind, this is a 7,000-ton Swiss watch.

There are stages when it's like blacksmithing, and stages when it's like brain surgery.

The Astute is among the world's most technologically-advanced machines.

Computer-aided design and manufacturing, or CAD-CAM,

is a tool that allows for accuracy

and essentially to try ideas out, saving money and time.

It allows for continual evaluation, analysis and redesign where needed.

When building something as complex and as expensive

as a nuclear submarine, this process is essential.

The naval architecture team are some of the best in the world.

The submarine is designed to operate in a very hostile environment,

which is under the sea, at pressure.

It's a salty environment, it wants to corrode.

And at the same time, it has to keep its crew of 97 crew

safe for about a three-month period without surfacing.

So it has to make its own air, its own water, carries its own food.

And it has to operate as a war-fighting machine as well.

With around 600 people involved in the design process alone,

this is one of the largest concentrations of such expertise.

This computer simulation shows us

the whole submarine response to an underwater shock,

so an explosion of some sort of some underwater weapon.

It helps us figure out what stresses the boat will see...

The accelerations equipment may see, that are in the boat.

So it helps us design the boat to survive, basically.

These designers are potentially saving millions of pounds.

It'd be far more costly if things were built and didn't work out.

The main reason for us using these computer simulation processes

is it's too expensive and too difficult to do this testing

in real life, on real submarines.

Virtual testing like this, allowing infinite changes

and able to store vast amounts of information,

is a vital part of the design process.

We build it first inside a computer-aided model.

So we build it, lay it all out, to make sure people can operate it.

Also it can meet its functional performances as well.

Once we've done that, we move on to actually issuing all the drawings.

So all the drawings originate from our computer-aided model.

Them drawings then go to our operations department

who actually build Astute.

The Astute contains more than a million individual components,

designed on a computer but built by hand.

Many of things we work on are mission-critical.

They save lives, they protect our troops.

QinetiQ can work on classified Government projects,

so everybody is security cleared at least as far as Restricted,

often up to as far as Secret.

QinetiQ is an international company

that specialises in top secret Government defence projects.

But one of their current projects, involving smart materials

as used in stealth technology by the military,

is now being used in the production of wind turbines.

By 2020, the UK must increase its green energy production

from 2% to 15%.

As we're Europe's windiest country, harnessing this resource

could be the key to helping us meet this target.

A single onshore wind turbine can meet the energy needs

of 1,100 households a year.

But there is a serious problem with them.

Across the country, the construction of thousands of turbines,

enough to provide power for 3.4 million homes,

are on hold because of the unique effect they have on aviation radar.

Air traffic controllers use bounced radar pulses

to locate moving objects.

Because of their spinning blades, turbines reflect these pulses

in the same way as an aeroplane, so air traffic control

can't distinguish between a wind farm and a rogue moving aircraft.

But now engineers believe they may have found the solution.

Stealth technology.

For over six decades, they've been working on ways

to make boats and planes disappear from enemy radar,

and now the team are applying these techniques

to the wind turbine problem.

-Ready?

-Yeah.

-Clear, yeah.

-It's looking good.

-Round about 30dB.

Stealth is the shape of the vehicle and it's the materials it's made of.

So you either reflect the signal away from the radar

looking for it in a different direction

and you do that by shaping the aircraft or ship

or you make it out of something that absorbs the energy

that's been sent out by the radar.

QinetiQ don't build wind turbines, so they're working with

one of the world's biggest turbine manufacturers,

Danish company Vestas, to solve the problem.

It's been a hugely complex challenge.

Because every inch of a turbine blade has been precisely engineered

for maximum performance, the shape,

weight or manufacturing process can't be changed.

Engineers here are working on a special solution

to add stealth material layers into the composite skins of the blades.

These guys are just measuring and marking

the position of the various materials so we get them in the right place.

It's important that we put these materials in exactly,

to within a few millimetres otherwise

we could upset the later joining of the two parts of the mould.

It's nice to get away from computer models of what we're doing

and actually work with these guys

and see it coming together as a component.

The composition of these layers is a closely-guarded secret,

but they work by absorbing most of the radar pulses,

so only a very small amount is reflected.

With the weakened returned pulse,

the turbines become distinguishable from aircraft to radar operators.

Initial tests are positive, and the teams are building

what will become the world's first stealth turbine.

It is a breakthrough for Kinetic, and a brilliant example of how

a smart material developed for the military

is used to enable the development of renewable energy sites.

The submarine is huge. It's 100 metres long, it's three decks deep.

There's no inch of the submarine similar to another inch of it.

I would put it in the same league as the space shuttle,

or projects of that size.

To my mind this is a 7,000-ton Swiss watch.

There are stages when it's like blacksmithing,

and stages when it is like brain surgery.

The Astute is among the world's most technologically advanced machines.

Testing is essential, and by ensuring that it is carried out

through rigorous processes, products and materials

can be deemed safe and fit for purpose.

This is standard industry procedure,

and is critical where product design impacts on end users.

Testing the weapons systems on a nuclear submarine

is the closest they will come to a combat situation.

It's crucial that they are tested properly.

This is done by using an advanced war game scenario.

Unlock!

The weapons storage department, or torpedo room,

is where weapons are loaded, stored and fired from.

The Astute is armed with Spearfish torpedoes,

with a range of over 65 kilometres, weighing two tonnes each,

and Tomahawk missiles able to accurately hit targets

more than 1,000 kilometres inland.

Today the crew are engaged in a war games exercise

to test that all the equipment is talking to each other correctly.

The plan today is to run three scenarios.

These scenarios will test all aspects of the system,

both physically and the crew as well. It'll test them as well.

OK, listen up, guys, this is your brief, your task.

You have been allocated a patrol area in the Norwegian Sea

with the role of surveillance and intelligence gathering.

You are to patrol the area and attempt to covertly trail

any deploying submarines you detect and classify.

You will maintain a fire control solution at all times on the trail.

If you detect Delta Four preparing for a weapon firing,

you will conduct a simulated Spearfish engagement,

including water shots to ensure counter detection.

You have two hours and 30 minutes to save the world.

Dangerous submarine contact.

The control room is where we prepare the fire control solution

for firing a weapon, and down below in the weapons storage department,

or the bomb shop, that's where we fire the weapons from.

It's simulating the submarine being used for what it is intended.

-Classified Oscar.

-Stand by for Spearfish attack, take track three five as target,

plus five, Oscar, from two tube.

Stand by for active contact.

Validated contact, weapon two.

Standby, conduct attack on this contact.

The command system uses various algorithms

to work out where we think the target is going to be.

Once we have a good fire control solution on the target,

we will try and fire a weapon at it.

Valid active contact, bearing 146, range 10,700 yards.

That is the target, continue the attack.

Roger, continue the attack.

Stand by to fire, track three five.

Stand by to fire, track three five.

The weapon is in weapon mode.

It has gone very well. I think the crew were very impressed.

Certainly our team were very impressed.

We have worked very hard, it's been a very long day,

and we have all got something out of this.

The testing process has been a success,

and now the Astute can prepare for the job it was designed for.

It is a massive machine, but a real piece of precision engineering too.

From the moment we launch the kit to make the first internal module,

through to the engine being despatched, it is 20 days.

The Trent 700 jet engine is Rolls-Royce's biggest seller,

and has so far clocked up 13 million flying hours in just 15 years.

As a commercial company, it is essential

the Rolls-Royce production line runs like clockwork.

It carries a payload of 242 tonnes

at 37,000 feet for 9,500 miles, which, as you can imagine,

is a serious challenge for any technology to deliver.

So it really is at the high end of manufacturing and assembly.

The popularity of the Trent 700 is the factory's biggest challenge.

With orders placed to build 400 new engines,

the company has to produce at least four a week.

For their production line, one of the most complex in the world, time is big money.

Each Trent engine is built from modules, eight separate sections,

which are put together on the assembly line.

But each module is made from thousands and thousands of components,

and the monumental task of gathering them starts here, at the massive parts warehouse.

Kevin Carr's job is to make sure every engine part is delivered to the assembly line on time.

I average about eight miles a day

on an average day, but if we have lots and lots of issues,

my best is just under 16 miles in a day.

Lots and lots of shoe leather used.

This is called JIT, or just in time, technology.

Essentially, this means the production process is managed to a time scale,

and the parts are dispatched when needed, and not sitting on the shelf for any length of time.

I do know the guys around here say, you know,

"Just give me a part and a box and I can tell you where it goes".

Everything's ready for the guys. It's bit like a sweet shop for them.

They can pick and choose what they want.

We supply the very first nut, bolt, or washer, that they fit,

right up to the very last little bit of plastic that we put on the engine

before it goes out the door to the customer.

So that could be anything up to 30,000, 40,000 parts, depending on which engine it is.

It's Kev who kicks off every new engine build.

Two days before the assembly begins, he triggers the dispatch of tens of thousands

of parts from the warehouse.

Got all the bits there for it? Got all the paperwork?

So we're all ready to go then? OK. Thanks very much.

Looking at the boxes you wouldn't know, but looking at the odds and sods on the floor,

there's nothing under £1,000.

You've got the Engine Control Management Unit. Roughly £750,000 worth

in that box. Just sitting there on a pallet.

Anything up to £200 million worth is stock on the shelf.

We have roughly five engines' worth of stock of anything.

For the assembly process, industry has to employ effective and innovative management

when planning production to ensure the smooth running of the build.

After all, time is money.

It's about five to seven and I'm going to work.

I'm currently an apprentice at Derby at Rolls-Royce as a manufacturing engineer in engineer maintenance.

I'll be fully qualified in September 2010, which is really daunting,

being able to say, "I will be a qualified electrician".

Erin Browne is a second-year apprentice electrician at BAE Systems in Barrow.

I'm just changing into my overalls.

Have to wear them, obviously.

Don't cut yourself or hurt yourself.

They're not very flattering, to say the least.

I work on that boat, boat two, Ambush.

This one closer to us is boat three.

We're going down there to the toolbox tarp.

That's Nige, the team leader.

Erin will be trained in the electrical systems of the submarine,

and is one of only 300 electricians on the build. When she qualifies,

she'll be part of a very elite and highly skilled club.

Better get cracking.

You can't imagine what it's like to work on submarines.

You only get that image in your head once you've been on board

and had a look around and actually worked on one.

'When you first come in, it is so daunting

'how big the submarines are, how big the complexes they're built in,

'and the yard itself, it is huge.'

But you see them every day,

and you just don't even realise they're there after a while.

This is the captain's cabin space. Ooh!

'I enjoy working here, definitely. It just fascinates me coming in.'

There's always someone new around doing something different.

Everyone's friendly, everyone talks.

You ask questions and someone answers.

You ask, "What does that do?"

Even if it's nothing to do with your job, someone tells you.

So you learn things about the boat that you wouldn't know otherwise.

This is a call signal station.

So if the power goes down on the boat

and you can't contact other areas, this'll have a handset on it.

It's just like a wind-up phone.

I basically get a step-by-step guide through how to do something

until I've learnt, until I'm confident I can do it myself.

Then I do them on my own.

But I've never done one of these, so Carl will tell me what to do.

'I like the idea of learning on the job. I'm a very hands-on person.

'I don't like being sat in a classroom

'having theory battered into me. I like the hands-on side of it.'

Once you leave your apprenticeship and you end up being a tradesman,

if you're on a squad and they get a new apprentice,

then they might get put with you.

'So it is important you know what you're doing,

'and that you listen when you're told it.'

Three and four.

'You're going to end up teaching them,

'so you're going to end up with your own apprentice at some point.'

All right. Sorted.

It's a skill that I've learnt that I can take around the world with me

and do whatever I want and have something to fall back on.

It is essential to invest in people just as much as technology itself.

Apprentice schemes like this are vital to British industry.

This is Rotatives. This is my business that I'm working in.

They mainly, again, deal with discs, drums and shafts.

Niraj is a manufacturing engineer at Rolls-Royce in Derby.

And in here we've got mainline shafts.

This is where they build the largest shafts,

which go through the main part of the engine.

These coverings go around them

so they make sure the parts don't become damaged.

You've got the various drilling machines down here.

And then, as you walk through here, this is where I work.

This is the shaft supports office.

Like, from a young age I was always into building things and designing.

Then the opportunity came round of getting the apprenticeship.

'And my family - my dad, my grandad and my uncle are engineers,

'so I've had a little bit of influence as well from them.'

But generally, I just like engineering

and I like the fact of designing and building.

Like every apprentice, Niraj can expect to spend three years or more

learning the basic skills of his trade.

So having a passion for it is really important.

Today I'm trying to make one of these control rods,

which, as you can see, is here.

It allows the pilot to control the amount of air flow

going through the engine

and change various settings in the engine of the flaps and the angles.

If you tell somebody you're 16 and you work in Rolls-Royce,

they see you in a different light suddenly,

like you're actually something special, a bit different,

because it's really quite prestigious

to work in such a big company like this

at, certainly, the age I am.

-So, first data blued out from one end to the other.

-OK.

Second data, 90 degrees to it.

Check that with an engineer's square.

I'm thinking, "Wow, what a change a couple of years can make,"

because going from schoolboy to engineer

is quite a radical change, and I'm quite pleased with that change.

Engineers use their imagination and analytical skills to invent,

design and build things that matter.

They are team players with independent minds.

By dreaming up creative and practical solutions,

engineers are changing the world all the time.

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