Abstract: An aircraft weight and balance system includes a user interface that displays an interior layout of an aircraft with seat icons and cargo icons corresponding to seats and cargo zones onboard the aircraft. The seat and cargo icons are moveable to different locations within the interior layout, and an updated weight and center-of-gravity of the aircraft is automatically determined based on the different locations of the seat and cargo icons. An aircraft weight and balance method includes displaying an interior layout of an aircraft on a user interface including seat icons corresponding to seats onboard the aircraft, moving one or more of the seat icons to a different location within the interior layout based on a user input, determining an updated weight and center-of-gravity of the aircraft based on a current location of the seat icons, and displaying the updated weight and center-of-gravity of the aircraft on the user interface.

Abstract: An industrial robot well suited for handling heavy work pieces comprises a base; a vertically oriented main support shaft rotatably mounted in the base on a radial thrust bearing; a support frame mounted on the support shaft; a flat-sided extendable main extend shaft mounted on the support frame; and a tooling assembly mounted on the outer end of the main extend shaft. The main extend shaft is a hollow, rectangular tubular member and rides on a simplified bearing assembly consisting of two sets of adjustable cam followers that ride on all four walls of the shaft. The tooling assembly comprises cam-operated, adjustable force grab jaws that hold the work piece; and separate means for raising and lowering and extending and retracting the grab jaws with respect to the main extend shaft. The whole system is operated hydraulically by solenoid actuated valves which control hydraulic motors or cylinders, with the cylinders functioning on a full extend or full retract basis.