Boeing Advanced Research Center

The Boeing Advanced Research Center (BARC) is a 4300 sq. ft. facility housed in the Department of Mechanical Engineering, College of Engineering at the University of Washington that fosters collaborative basic and applied research, translational research and development, and student education-related activities in the area of manufacturing and assembly of aircraft and spacecraft structures. These research and educational activities will lead to strong partnerships between UW and Industry.

The establishment of this facility represents a new paradigm in the execution of industrial research at UW in that Boeing-employed Affiliate Instructors will work in the lab, on a full time basis, hand in hand with faculty and students on joint research projects. It is envisioned that approximately eight Boeing-employed Affiliates will work concurrently in the lab with graduate students and that each project will have at least one UW faculty member assigned to it. The initial research focus is on automation, robotics, mechatronics and metrology, with the focus on the assembly of aircrafts, with four projects including predictive shimming, development of in-wing crawlers, inside fuselage automation for percussive rivet forming, and sensor fusion. The BARC is led by the Department of Mechanical Engineering; however, other departments in COE and UW will also be engaged.