Development of a mobile robotic system for working in the double-hulled structure of a ship
Shipbuilding processes involve highly dangerous manual welding operations. Welding ship walls inside double-hulled structures presents a particularly hazardous environment for workers. This paper describes the "Rail Runner X"(RRX), a new robotic system that can move autonomously inside the walls of a double-hulled ship and automatically execute the required welding processes. The RRX robotic system is composed of a mobile platform and a welding robot consisting of a 3P3R serial manipulator. The robot is used to weld U-shaped trajectories located between two longitudinal stiffeners. The mobile platform enables traverse movements onto neighboring longitudinal stiffeners. The entire cross section of the robotic system is small enough to be placed inside the double-hulled structure via a conventional access hole from the outside shipyard floor. The overall engineering design process that led to the final robot solution developed is presented in this paper, including kinematic analysis data and experimental results for verifying the autonomous movement and welding performance. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
double-hulled structure mobile welding robotic system robotics in hazardous fields mechanism design