University of New Orleans working on research to utilize robots to weld ship components

One of the enduring issues in the U.S. shipbuilding industry has been a lack of qualified welders. There are never enough people to do the work.

“The shipbuilding industry can never find enough welders, and welding is a core competence of shipbuilding,” says Frank Bordelon, executive director of the UNO Gulf Coast Region Maritime Technology Center (per Assembly Magazine).

In one angle of a solution, the the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency has granted UNO $3.6 million to pursue tools to help develop robotic alternatives. Pretty interesting that we lay off craftsmen in shipyards, but can't seem to find enough welders...