Robots weld ships as HD Hyundai Heavy Industries plans physical AI rollout in first half of next year

Spread across 5.45 million square meters along the coast of Ulsan, the HD Hyundai Heavy Industries shipyard is a place where robots have taken over some of the most demanding work. On a visit Thursday, the panel factory hummed with activity — but the welders were machines. Four robots stood in a row, casting blue arcs of light as they ran beads along steel plates stretching dozens of meters. Workers stood nearby, monitoring the machines rather than wielding torches themselves. In an adjacent workshop, collaborative robots shaped like human arms carried out their own welding tasks.

"The robots work based on data values set by engineers," a company official said. "Introducing robots on the shop floor has made product quality more consistent."

HD Hyundai Heavy Industries uses robots across other processes as well. In the mid-sized vessel division, logistics robots handle part of the lug fabrication process — lugs being the connecting rings attached to ship blocks during transport. About 260 robots are now deployed across HD Hyundai's shipyard in total. Some lug manufacturing lines have been fully automated, with cutting, assembly and welding carried out in sequence based on design data, without any worker intervention.

The push to deploy robots and automation technology reflects the sheer volume of orders the company is managing. HD Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering, the intermediate holding company for HD Hyundai's shipbuilding operations, has been riding a sustained order surge on the back of a global market recovery. The company has booked 189 vessels so far this year, already surpassing its full-year total of 137 ships last year.

The scale of the workload was visible throughout the yard. The dry docks — including a 1-million-ton facility capable of building four vessels simultaneously — were filled to capacity, with not a single berth to spare. Ship blocks were stacked across every corner of the complex, and a quay stretching more than 10 kilometers was lined with vessels in the final stages of outfitting. HD Hyundai concluded that robots were essential to keeping pace with the growing workload and delivering ships on schedule.

Shin Sang-beom, executive director of the automation innovation division at HD Hyundai Heavy Industries' shipbuilding business unit, said robots were helping to fill a growing skills gap. "More than 500 skilled workers retire every year," Shin said. "Robots are stepping in to support employees who lack that accumulated experience."

The results are already showing. Welding processes using collaborative robots have seen productivity rise 40 percent compared with conventional methods. "The benefits of introducing robots go beyond productivity gains — they are creating a virtuous cycle in which consistent quality and process efficiency improve together," a company official said. "As quality variation and rework caused by human error decrease, production efficiency is being maximized."

HD Hyundai's broader strategy is to use robotics to sharpen its competitive edge against China. China, the global shipbuilding leader, is aggressively deploying robots of its own. "China, backed by massive government support, is widely assessed to be ahead of South Korea in automation technology as well," Shin said.

To avoid falling behind, HD Hyundai plans to introduce physical AI technology into its welding processes. The goal is to develop AI that allows robots to assess their working environment and proceed with welding autonomously. The target for deployment is the first half of next year. "To secure a competitive edge over China, we need systemic innovation," Shin said. "Physical AI development is currently about 60 percent complete."

The company also plans to collaborate with HD Hyundai Robotics, the group's robotics affiliate. As part of that effort, it is considering deploying HD Hyundai Robotics' intelligent dual-arm robot at the shipyard. The dual-arm robot is designed to mimic the structure of the human upper body, with two arms and five fingers on each hand.

"Our goal is to deploy 3,000 robots across HD Hyundai's shipyards by 2030," Shin said. "Through that, we plan to raise overall process productivity by 30 percent and cut ship production costs by 10 percent by 2030."

Lee Jun-yeop, executive vice president at HD Hyundai Heavy Industries, said the company's vision for automation went beyond simply adding collaborative robots. "To survive in fierce competition with China, we need to convert the capabilities that people possess into digital assets," Lee said.

This article was produced with support from the Bada Uipum Foundation and the Korea Marine Journalists Association.