The practical application of welding robots for shipbuilding started in the late 1980s in Japan, it has greatly contributed to the improvement of productivity. More than 60 sets of welding robots are now operated for sub-assembly and block-assembly stages in our company. But, the automation of welding in the closed blocks, such as double hull blocks etc., is delayed compared with one for the open blocks, resulting in low usage of the robotic system. Furthermore, there is room for improvement of welding quality and operability in the existing welding robot system. Therefore, the authors are continuously developing advanced automatic welding system for the extension of usage of robotic systems. This paper introduces an overview of recent case studies of the advanced welding robot system for the ship-hull welding at sub-assembly stage, block-assembly stage and in dock respectively.
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