Doosan Robotics wins state funding to build AI welding cobots that learn from skilled welders
Doosan Robotics said on October 6 that two of its proposals were selected for Korean government R&D projects worth about 98.9 billion won in total, with about 68.1 billion won of government support. One builds an AI welding system for nuclear power equipment: a collaborative robot uses a camera to recognise the workpiece and a digital twin to generate weld paths learned from skilled workers. Doosan is aiming for paths that match a skilled welder's at least 95% of the time, path error within ±3 mm, and more than 50% less time on multi-layer welds of five layers or more. Testing starts with tack welding, preheating and welding at Doosan Enerbility's Nuclear Center, then expands to shipbuilding, plant and defence work. The second project puts an AI chip inside the cobot so it can see, decide and act without an outside PC or cloud.
What it means for manufacturers and fabricators
Welding robots are being taught to copy your best welder's paths instead of being programmed point by point, which is how robots start to make sense for the high-mix, multi-pass work that's hard to staff.