Robotic Survey, Repair and Agile Manufacturer (RESURGAM)
Project Title: Robotic Survey, Repair and Agile Manufacturer RESURGAM
Funding body: EU H2020
Duration: 36 M (01/02/2021-30/01/2024)
Coordinator: EWF, Belgium
Partners: Here
UL Team: Daniel Toal PI, Gerard Dooly, Anthony Weir, Edin Omerdic
website: www.resurgamproject.eu
ABOUT
The project aims to revolutionise the way ships’ hulls are repaired by the transfer of Friction Stir Welding technology into underwater vessel repair. It will develop aninnovative portable Underwater Friction Stir Welding robotic system, a modular
fabrication with FSW capability, and a digital platform to support them.
We will combine FSW with the new tool material to deliver:
– The introduction of low-cost Friction Stir Welding (FSW) systems for steel that can be retrofitted to their
existing CNC machines;
– The introduction of AI-enabled, robotic FSW systems capable of making underwater weld repairs.
The system will make processes safer, faster, and more cost-efficient than conventional welding. Practically,
this will allow ships damaged anywhere in the world will have the option of being repaired in place without the need to travel to the nearest dry dock. It will also allow ship owners to choose the most suitable yards to conduct their
repairs rather than the nearest. The repairs may be undertaken by yards with no dry dock of their own, thus significantly increasing the number of yards able to undertake such work. All of this will be implemented by the European
shipyards and Naval architects in Europe.
OUR ROLE
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The CRIS team will be mainly involved in the remote underwater repair tasks. We will support the development of the concept and prototype hardware required to enable the remote, underwater, robotic FSW system. The MRE ROV equipped with a 2G Robotics laser scanner will be used as a support system for the inspection/monitoring/3D reconstruction of the repair site and deployment of the UFSW prototype. We will also support the demonstration of the UFSW robotic system as well as the development of RESURGAM training modules and dissemination of project outputs.