Event

Machina Labs wins $1.6M U.S. Air Force contract for robotic composite tooling

Mar 16, 2023 · Contract Award · Machina Labs · Industrial

The U.S. Air Force awarded Machina Labs a $1.6 million AFWERX TACFI contract to advance robotic manufacture of metal tooling for high-rate composite production.

  • The programme focused on metal tooling for a fast-cure, out-of-autoclave composite process.
  • Earlier AFRL work had validated Machina tooling for vacuum integrity, dimensional stability and thermal response.
  • The contract advanced a large-envelope two-robot forming process intended to reduce tooling cost and lead time.

Machina Labs builds and operates software-defined factories for production-grade metal structures used in defence, aerospace and advanced mobility. Its RoboCraftsman cells combine seven-axis robotics, autonomous material handling and closed-loop AI controls to form, scan, trim, drill and increasingly join large sheet-metal parts without geometry-specific tooling. The company is headquartered in Los Angeles.

Segment
Industrial
Event type
Contract Award
Added to Korthos
Jul 15, 2026
Geography
Los Angeles, California · United States