Skip to main content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Official websites use .gov
A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.

Secure .gov websites use HTTPS
A lock ( ) or https:// means you’ve safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

Delivery of an Advanced Double-Hull Ship Welding System using RoboCrane

Published

Author(s)

Roger V. Bostelman, Adam S. Jacoff, Robert Bunch

Abstract

The Office of Naval Research has sponsored a collaborative effort between the Naval Surface Warfare Center Carderock Division, Advanced Technology and Research Corporation, Newport News Shipbuilders, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). Phase I of this effort is nearing completion to autonomously weld double-hull ship sections together. In order to accomplish the delivery of industrial equipment (welder, weld robot, power supply) to the work-site, an advanced crane concept called ¿RoboCrane¿ was employed. Typically, a crane equipped with conventional controls would be used to deliver worker-assisted and controlled welding systems. But, the expense, inefficiencies, and the unsafe environment that the project imposes on workers make it a more suitable robotic application. RoboCrane is used to pick-up, deliver, and retrieve advanced welding systems using remote control to/from the work-site where double-hull ship sections are to be joined by welding. The paper provides description of the RoboCrane application to advanced double-hull ship construction, including system configuration of RoboCrane and the weld system, control and sensory feedback, and other applications considered.
Proceedings Title
Proceedings of the Third International ICSC Symposia on Intelligent Industrial Automation and Soft Computing
Conference Dates
June 1-4, 1999
Conference Location
Genova, IT
Conference Title
ICSC Symposia on Intelligent Industrial Automation and Soft Computing

Keywords

double-hull ship, RoboCrane, robot crane, Robot Crane, Robotics & Intelligent Systems, control, sensor feedback, welding

Citation

Bostelman, R. , Jacoff, A. and Bunch, R. (1999), Delivery of an Advanced Double-Hull Ship Welding System using RoboCrane, Proceedings of the Third International ICSC Symposia on Intelligent Industrial Automation and Soft Computing, Genova, IT, [online], https://tsapps.nist.gov/publication/get_pdf.cfm?pub_id=820629 (Accessed March 29, 2024)
Created June 1, 1999, Updated February 17, 2017