Industrial AI and robotics ·
Hanwha Ocean and KIRO partner on shipyard robots and physical AI welding
South Korea’s Korea Institute of Robot Convergence (KIRO) and Hanwha Ocean signed an MOU to jointly develop shipyard autonomous robots, industrial humanoids and AI robot solutions, with field demos planned at Hanwha’s Geoje plant. Hanwha says AI and automation already cover about 67% of its indoor welding, with a goal of fully automating welding by 2030. The company is moving beyond fixed-path weld robots toward physical AI that can recognize work areas, including vision-based and cobot welding models started with NC AI.
What it means for manufacturers and fabricators
Heavy industry is pouring effort into AI that adapts welds on the fly—the same skilled-labor bottleneck mid-market fab shops feel when welders are scarce.