A multi-axis robotic wrist and fiber placement apparatus incorporating same and related method

A fiber redirect system for use with a multi-axis robotic wrist (114) and fiber placement system and methods of using the same are provided. The fiber redirect system may include one or more redirect mechanisms (170, 178, 186) configured to alter the path of one or more fiber tows fed from a creel assembly (102) to a fiber placement head (116). The redirect mechanism may be located and configured so as to be centered about either the intersection of the pitch (130) and yaw axes (132) of the robotic wrist or the intersection of the yaw and roll axes (134) of the robotic wrist. In one exemplary embodiment, a first redirect mechanism (170) is centered about the intersection of the pitch and yaw axes, a second redirect mechanism (178) is centered about the intersection of the yaw and roll axes and a third redirect mechanism (186) may be centered about the roll axis.