Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering Develops Collaborative Robot for Ship Piping Welding

A worker operating a welding collaborative robot developed by Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering

[Asia Economy Reporter Oh Hyung-gil] Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering has developed a collaborative robot that welds ship piping regulators.

Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering announced on the 9th that it has developed a collaborative robot for welding carbon steel pipes and is applying it to shipbuilding sites. This robot is characterized by its ability to perform fine adjustments to the work close to the robot.

Until now, workers had to work at close distances to the robot to respond to precise welding or various welding variables, but industrial robots require safety fences to be installed for safety reasons, making precise work practically impossible.

However, this robot allows workers to collaborate with the collaborative robot in welding tasks without installing fences or sensors through collision safety analysis, enabling cooperation between workers and the robot.

Also, previously, workers had to manually move and position torch workstands weighing over 30 kg for welding, but after applying the robot, the preparation time excluding welding time was reduced by about 60%.

It was also found to contribute to productivity improvement and reduction of worker fatigue. Through evaluation by the Korea Robot Users Association, it obtained the 'Collaborative Robot Installation Workplace Safety Certification,' marking the first successful case of on-site application in Korea.

A Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering official said, "Currently applied only to ship piping regulators, but we plan to continuously develop technology to extend it to general piping as well."