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Honeybee Cobot: Practical Applications in Shipyards

The shipbuilding industry has experienced explosive growth in recent years, but experienced, highly skilled welders are gradually retiring. The new generation of workers is generally unwilling to enter this "hard, dirty, tiring, and dangerous" industry with weak social interaction, resulting in a severe talent gap and hindering the transmission of enterprise processes and experience.

According to data from the China Association of the National Shipbuilding Industry, public information from major shipbuilding groups, and industry surveys, the total number of front-line welders directly engaged in ship welding nationwide is approximately 200,000 to 300,000. The total number of welders indirectly engaged in shipbuilding services, including outsourced engineering teams, professional welding service companies, marine engineering equipment manufacturing, and ship repair and modification, may exceed 400,000. Based on current order statistics, the welder shortage is estimated at around 100,000 to 120,000.

Dalian, China, is a port city with a high concentration of shipbuilding industry workers, and China's first aircraft carrier was also built here. Honeybee CNC, based in Dalian, has developed a collaborative robot (Cobot) specifically designed to solve these welding problems in shipyards—the Marine Engineering Version Welding Collaborative Robot—addressing the pain points of the shipbuilding industry.

This product adopts an industry-first solution: a 620mm + integrated controller + magnetic base/track + vision system, incorporating 17 new and patented technologies.

  1. The main body has a maximum welding radius of 800mm, a self-weight of 12.3KG, and a working load of 18KG.It adopts CAN open DeviceNet and I/O communication protocols for more stable communication.
  2. An IoT group control system enables efficient collaboration between equipment and personnel, ensuring efficient equipment operation and digitalization of the production process.
  3. An intelligent power supply system with 380V external power supply and 220V internal power supply adds power protection, monitoring, and early warning functions, as well as energy consumption information collection. The working radius is 30-50 meters. It ensures safe and stable production while enabling energy consumption statistical analysis.
  4. A dedicated welding manipulator ensures improved welding success rates in non-standard situations. A primary school graduate can learn in 1 hour, become proficient in 1 week, and achieve the skills of a master craftsman with over 3 years of experience in 1 month.
  5. Dedicated vision sensing equipment improves mechanical operation efficiency under similar working conditions. A comprehensive library of welding processes adapts to a wider range of welding conditions.