The outer part shines light on the fabric, while the inner half detects the pinholes using its light sensors. When the robot detects a hole, it aligns its repair mechanism and patches it up. It also sends a report of all the pinholes it finds and repairs to a computer. Lockheed Martin landed its first hybrid airship contract -- a huge, $480 million deal -- in March. It would have been time consuming to inspect each of the 12 blimps the client ordered without SPIDER. While we doubt the robot would make blimps more common (as charming as they are), it could help speed up the company's manufacturing process.

You can see the company explaining and demonstrating SPIDER in the video below: