The National Shipbuilding Research Program Executive Summary Robotics in Shipbuilding Workshop

The purpose of the workshop was to bring together a representative mix of industry experts, government representatives and educators to develop an understanding of robotics, ascertain the degree of common problems within the industry associated with potential robotics applications and to make recommendations as to what cooperative action might be taken to resolve these problems. The first two morning sessions were devoted to presentations by experts in the various phases of robotics to establish a common base for understanding the current state-of-the-art of robotics. Afternoon sessions were divided into two phases. The first consisted of roundtable discussions by all attendees to gain an overview of shipyard requirements for improving productivity andor reducing the number of people doing undesirable tasks. The second was to form three discussion groups to establish the state-of-the-art in their respective areas, identify economic problems, and recommend such action as would possibly satisfy the shipyard requirements through the application of robotics. These groups were Welding and Assembly Surface PreparationCoating Material Handling FacilitiesIndustrial-Manufacturing Engineering, CADCAM Interface And Other Potential Applications.