Hyundai Unveils Shipyard-Specific Welding Humanoid

HD Hyundai Partners with Persona AI to Advance Shipyard Robotics

HD Hyundai recently signed a ‘Joint Development Agreement for the Demonstration and Commercialization of a Shipyard-Specific Welding Humanoid’. (From left to right: Song Young-hoon, Head of the Solution Development Division at HD Hyundai Robotics; Lee Dong-ju, Head of the Manufacturing Innovation Research Institute at HD Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering; and Nick Radford, CEO of Persona AI. (Photo provided by HHI)

HD Hyundai is launching a full-scale push for the demonstration and commercialization of its welding humanoid.

HD Hyundai announced on March 23 that HD Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering, HD Hyundai Robotics, and the U.S.-based Persona AI have signed a ‘Joint Development Agreement for the Demonstration and Commercialization of a Shipyard-Specific Welding Humanoid’ at the HD Hyundai Global R&D Center in Pangyo, Gyeonggi Province.

The signing ceremony was attended by officials including Lee Dong-ju, Head of the Manufacturing Innovation Research Institute at HD Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering; Song Young-hoon, Head of the Solution Development Division at HD Hyundai Robotics; and Nick Radford, CEO of Persona AI.

This agreement is a follow-up phase to the ‘MOU for the Development of a Shipbuilding Welding Humanoid’ signed last May. The subsequent development was initiated after the prototype, which has been in development since last year, was deemed successful in terms of its technical utility and potential.

Under this joint development agreement, HD Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering will develop robot welding training technology using data accumulated at the shipyard. It will also conduct demonstrations by applying an AI model trained with welding process data from actual shipbuilding operations.

HD Hyundai Robotics will oversee the system integration for the humanoid’s application in the shipyard and will be responsible for developing welding quality analysis and control technology, as well as supporting on-site testing. Persona AI will develop a bipedal humanoid platform capable of moving stably in a shipyard environment.

Through this initiative, HD Hyundai plans to complete the development of a shipyard-specific welding humanoid capable of performing high-difficulty tasks such as welding, movement, cognition, and precision control, and to gradually apply it to actual shipbuilding sites.

In particular, based on the physical AI-based welding technology that HD Hyundai Robotics has accumulated, it will implement precision control technology that reflects the work know-how and patterns of highly skilled welders. The company plans to pursue the development and advancement of a welding solution that meets the requirements of the shipyard.

Jung Min-hee