Samsung Heavy Industries Sees Mantis™ Weld in Action
Robotic technology company FBR Limited (ASX: FBR) has demonstrated its Mantis™ welding robot to a delegation from Samsung Heavy Industries, described in the announcement as one of the largest shipbuilding companies in the world.
Four experts representing technical leadership in robotics, welding and production travelled from Korea to FBR’s premises. They watched Mantis™ weld several workpieces representative of various aspects of shipbuilding.
An in-person look from a global shipbuilder is a credible commercial signal for a technology at the demonstration stage.
Mark Pivac, CEO
“It was fantastic to host the team on Friday and show them firsthand what Mantis™ can do… I see a bright future for Korea and Australia working together in this major industry.”
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What Samsung Heavy Industries witnessed
The full workflow on show
Mantis™ is a DST®-powered long reach industrial welding robot with high deposition welding capability. The Samsung Heavy Industries team witnessed the full workflow:
- FBR’s own AI “Weld Creator” programming software
- Part set up
- Welding
- Inspection of the completed welds
The company states that Mantis™ offers new capability to shipbuilders and was well received.
Samsung Heavy Industries feedback
The Samsung Heavy Industries team commented:
Samsung Heavy Industries team
“Mantis™ is very impressive and has the capability to automate many tasks that we currently use humans to complete across our shipyard, and we will work with the FBR team to examine the integration of more automation in our production workflows.”
The announcement does not describe an order or contract. It does note that FBR has been working with Samsung Heavy Industries on another shipbuilding automation project “for some time”, according to Mr Pivac.
The Samsung Heavy Industries visit sits alongside FBR’s first commercial Mantis sale, a $990,000 purchase order from a Louisiana heavy equipment dealer that gave the platform its earliest revenue validation.
Why robotic welding matters for shipbuilders
A long reach, high deposition welding robot is built to weld large metal structures, laying down a high volume of weld material. Shipbuilding is a large-scale fabrication task, and the Samsung Heavy Industries team said it currently uses humans for many welding tasks across its shipyard.
FBR’s core Dynamic Stabilisation Technology® (DST®) is designed to let its robots work outdoors. Mr Pivac described Mantis™ as a general purpose large welding robot with many applications for shipyards.
FBR describes Mantis™ as a high deposition welding robot for large-scale metal fabrication industries such as:
- Mining
- Shipbuilding
- Defence manufacture
What comes next for FBR and Mantis™
FBR describes the start of Mantis™ demonstrations to international prospects as an exciting milestone. Two items follow from the announcement:
- International demonstrations: the team is looking forward to conducting many more demonstrations of Mantis™ to international prospects.
- First unit shipment: the first Mantis™ unit is to be shipped to its new owner in the United States, after those further demonstrations.
Beyond Mantis™, FBR’s DST® portfolio includes Hadrian®, a bricklaying robot offered through Wall as a Service®, and Firehawk™, an autonomous refractory lining robot used in steel production ladle lining.
For readers wanting to see how FBR’s other DST® platform is progressing, our full explainer on the Hadrian® Australian demonstration build covers the first on-site residential wall build in Western Australia and the Wall as a Service® launch that follows.
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