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Surface inspection: From Army depot to factory floor

GelSight Modulus. [Credit: Image courtesy of GelSight]

 

 

Born from U.S. Army requirements, the GelSight Modulus precision inspection tool has surpassed 100 units sold to commercial and Department of Defense customers. Its modular system architecture, featuring interchangeable probe tips with different diameters and inspection angles, allows a single instrument to adapt to a variety of components for maintenance inspection -- with lots of other potential uses.

GelSight Modulus is a portable, tactile surface analysis platform that delivers fast, high-res surface measurements in places traditional tools can't reach. From aerospace to advanced manufacturing, Modulus empowers engineers and quality teams to inspect complex geometries directly on the shop floor, without the need for replicas or lab-based tools.

Named for the modular probe architecture that emerged from Army requirements, the Modulus was originally developed under Contract W911W6-23-C-0002 with DEVCOM Aviation & Missile Center (DEVCOM AvMC). It is now deployed across commercial aerospace, manufacturing, and quality-control applications where surface integrity is critical to safety and performance.

GelSight Modulus replaces traditional, time-consuming methods such as replicas and disassembly with instant, high-resolution 3D data. View the full PDF spec sheet here. [Credit: Image courtesy of GelSight]

 

 

 

 

GelSight's proprietary technology was originally invented at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The 100-unit milestone marks a significant inflection point for GelSight, demonstrating that technology developed in close collaboration with U.S. Army maintainers has broad applicability far beyond its defense origins.

Under the Army DEVCOM contract, GelSight worked alongside maintainers at Corpus Christi Army Depot (CCAD) to understand the real-world demands of rotorcraft inspection. Through on-site visits and iterative collaboration, the team discovered that no single probe size or configuration could address the full range of maintenance inspection scenarios, from hard-to-reach interior geometries to angled surfaces on rotor blades and transmission housings. This insight drove the development of a modular system architecture featuring interchangeable probe tips with different diameters and inspection angles, allowing a single instrument to adapt to the variety of components maintainers inspect every day.

The result is a handheld, micron-scale 3D surface measurement system that replaces what previously required multiple specialized instruments or labor-intensive methods such as replica casting and manual visual inspection. Modulus helps to save parts that would have traditionally been scrapped due to an inability to quantify critical surfaces, geometries, and defects with legacy tools. Unlike conventional non-destructive inspection (NDI) techniques that rely on subjective operator interpretation and produce no permanent record, the Modulus generates quantitative 3D images for every inspection, enabling digital records, trend analysis, and AI-driven predictive maintenance workflows.

Powered by GelSight Mobile 4.2, Modulus supports a full suite of 2D and 3D analysis tools to characterize scratches, wear, corrosion, and surface finish with fast, quantifiable results. The software features enhanced image stabilization, 10-bit camera operation for improved exposure control, and operator-to-operator consistency for repeatable outcomes across teams and environments.

Webinar: GelSight Modulus in hard-to-reach places. [Credit: GelSight]

"Working alongside Army maintainers showed us that no single tool could serve every inspection need, and that they needed a system as adaptable as the mission itself," said Dr. Kimo Johnson, Co-Founder and Chief Science Officer at GelSight."

The Modulus is currently used across a range of high-stakes inspection environments including:

• Defense MRO: Non-destructive inspection of helicopter airframes, engines, transmission housings, rotor blades, and other critical aerospace components at DoD maintenance depots, enabling early detection of corrosion, cracks, and surface damage.
• Commercial Aerospace: Quality inspection of turbine blades, engine components, and structural parts during manufacturing and maintenance, repair, and overhaul (MRO).
• Manufacturing & Quality Control: Surface metrology for precision components across automotive, energy, and other industries where dimensional accuracy is critical.

For GelSight, the Modulus represents a successful transition from funded defense R&D to a commercially scalable product, validated first by the rigorous demands of Army aviation maintenance and now proven across the industrial inspection and metrology market.

To learn more about the GelSight Modulus and GelSight's mobile metrology solutions, go to gelsight.com. You can view the PDF product sheet at gelsight.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/GelSight-Modulus-Product-Sheet-02.24.26.pdf.

Source: GelSight

Published May 2026

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