HD Hyundai said on the 23rd that at the HD Hyundai Global R&D Center in Pangyo, Gyeonggi Province, HD Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering, HD Hyundai Robotics, and U.S. robotics company Persona AI signed a joint development agreement for verification and commercialization of a shipyard-specialized humanoid for welding. It is a follow-up to the business agreement signed in May last year to develop a humanoid for shipyard welding.
Under the agreement, HD Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering will develop robot welding training technology using data accumulated at shipyards, and apply an artificial intelligence (AI) model trained on welding process data to actual shipbuilding work to conduct verification. HD Hyundai said the prototype under development since last year received passing marks on technological utility and potential, prompting follow-up development.
HD Hyundai Robotics will oversee system integration for applying the humanoid to shipyards and take on roles in developing welding quality analysis and control technology and supporting field tests. Persona AI will develop a bipedal walking humanoid platform that can move stably in shipyard environments.
Through this, HD Hyundai plans to complete development of a shipyard-specialized humanoid for welding capable of high-difficulty tasks such as welding, mobility, perception, and precision control, and to apply it step by step to actual shipbuilding sites.
An HD Hyundai official said, "A shipyard-specialized humanoid will become a core foundation of future smart shipyards by enhancing worker safety and improving production efficiency," adding, "We plan to lead a new paradigm in shipbuilding by introducing humanoids to shipbuilding sites."