At AIAA Aviation Forum, Flexcompute and Robinson Helicopter announce CFD partnership for all-new R88 helicopter

At this year's AIAA Aviation Forum, Flexcompute announced a new partnership with Robinson Helicopter Company to use high-performance simulation to develop the all-new Robinson R88.

The R88 represents a bold expansion of Robinson's product portfolio. Designed for versatility and mission adaptability, it features a powerful Safran Arriel 2W engine, a completely redesigned interior, and seating for two pilots and eight passengers. Like all Robinson aircraft, the R88 is engineered for ease of operation, affordable maintenance, exceptional safety, and unmatched cost-efficiency. It is purpose-built to transform seamlessly between roles — from firefighting to air ambulance, utility work, or tourism.

Robinson is incorporating computational fluid dynamics (CFD) into its development process, using Flexcompute's Flow360 GPU-native platform to optimize cooling system performance and reduce reliance on manual testing.

Leveraging Flexcompute's CFD platform, Flow360, will enable Robinson with speed, accuracy and a complete workflow, to be able to further refine key components, aerodynamics, or acoustics. This will help enable their goal of reaching reduced emissions, extended range, noise reduction, and increase the fidelity of new models such as R88 and new aircraft designs.

"The R88 is the most capable aircraft we've ever built. With Flow360, we're able to simulate key systems early, make better decisions faster, and bring that capability to market with confidence," said David Smith, CEO of Robinson Helicopter Company.

"Robinson's expansion with the R88 comes at a pivotal time," said Vera Yang, President and Co-Founder of Flexcompute. "With Flow360, their engineering team gains fast, accurate insight into complex fluid dynamics, allowing them to design and validate performance early and move from concept to production-ready faster than ever."

This partnership is part of a broader modernization effort under CEO David Smith, formerly of Bell Helicopter, who is leading Robinson's transition toward digital design tools to accelerate development and raise the bar on performance and safety.

Robinson lives by a simple code: the work they do makes the world work, and at Flexcompute, we're proud to power that mission through the next generation of simulation.