WELDING AUTOMATION TECHNOLOGIES IN SHIPBUILDING INDUSTRY

In manufacturing of ships, problems to be solved are improvement of productivity and stabilization of quality due to the shortage of skilled workers. Working environment, in particular welding environment, is also to be improved. One solution among these problems is to rationalize and automate these working. This paper is focused on the welding automation technologies in shipbuilding industry. The features of shipbuilding in the aspect of automation are described, and the main welding robot systems to be developed by SRI are introduced in each working stages.