Page 49: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (February 2026)

ROBOTICS who are on the job face extreme conditions that impact safety, welding jobs get bogged down by administrative overhead, retention and the ability to produce consistent, precise work. integrated robotic welding platforms can generate real-time,

Yet, there are still pockets of skepticism about integrating new traceable data logs. Each weld is digitally logged, capturing technologies into traditional work? ows. data for quality assurance and predictive maintenance. “A lot of people are afraid of automation and robotics. I Better documentation means timely interventions to antici- think it just enhances and makes the workers' jobs easier,” U.S. pate failure and increase the service life of a ship. While it

Secretary of the Navy John Phelan said at the 2025 Reindustri- may seem like a low-level work? ow improvement, it can shift alize conference. “And we need to start equipping them [work- the emphasis from reactive repairs to proactive ? eet manage- ers] with the tools that they need to get their job done easier.” ment for greater readiness.

Rather than replacing human workers, cobots are extending

Looking Ahead their capabilities. Robotic platforms handle repetitive, high- risk tasks without tiring or losing focus, freeing human techni- The U.S. Navy is the smallest it's been since World War I cians to solve complex problems and provide critical oversight. and faces a signi? cant gap in readiness driven by maintenance

The results of human-robot collaboration are not marginal; requirements. The time it takes to complete repairs on surface they represent decisive gains in speed and precision. Every and amphibious vessels is often 20-100% longer than antici- day a vessel is deployable, instead of stuck in maintenance, is pated. Recent maintenance delays for Navy attack submarines a gain in operational capacity. And every welding inconsisten- have been so severe that roughly one-third of the ? eet is non- cy is a loss in the operational lifespan of the component, the deployable at any given time. subsystem and the ship itself. For the military, this translates As the Navy seeks to grow its total ? eet to 381, the mari- into ? eet readiness. For commercial operators, it can mean the time industrial base is being stretched between new builds and difference between pro? t and loss. critical maintenance and service life extensions. However, de- bating the number of labor hours required for repairs misses a

The Human Advantage critical point. The tools exist today for ? eet managers and op-

Beyond improvements in productivity, this division of labor erators to accelerate maintenance cycles and begin to restore is having tangible effects on worker safety. These bene? ts have readiness and lethality to the U.S. Navy. been documented across industries where robotics have been Robotic platforms have been proven to cut dry-docking adopted. In a 2025 working paper, European researchers found timelines by weeks. They have been demonstrated at scale that for every 10% increase in the use of robots, companies on maritime propulsion systems. This goes beyond marginal saw a reduction in fatalities and a nearly 2% decline in injuries. improvement; it represents a broader technological shift with

The technician remains at the center of the process. By tak- far-reaching implications. ing people out of exhausting environments, they can avoid Like any technology transformation, taking full advantage of prolonged exposure to hot metals, toxic fumes and repetitive robots in the repair yard requires methodical implementation. physical strain. Greater integration of skilled workers and robotic platforms is all but inevitable. So, it is critical to build a stable framework. That means enhanced training for operators to collaborate effectively

AI and Machine Learning

Initially, FMD developed a prototype robotic platform to with cobots. It requires human operators to identify speci? c ar- align with the Navy’s fully autonomous vessel program. As eas where a robotic platform has the comparative advantage over priorities shifted, there was an opportunity to tackle the more human labor in speed, precision and safety. Finally, successful immediate, high-impact challenges in ? eet maintenance. This automation means narrowing the focus to speci? c problem sets, led the robotics team away from custom-made platforms to- proving viability in context and then expanding from there. ward modular, open-source, programmable cobots—the Lego For suppliers working with U.S. and allied navies, there is of advanced robotics. a heightened sense of responsibility for mission readiness.

These robotics platforms are increasingly “teachable.” AI Through speed, precision and programmability, robotic plat- and machine learning algorithms are enabling continuous pro- forms are helping industry step up to meet that goal.

cess improvement and fault detection. Cameras and proces-

The Author sors allow for automated visual matching to identify masterful or faulty welds. But increasingly, intelligent sensors monitor

Patel

Nirav Patel is the Nuclear Navy Segment Director material variations, heat distribution and surface inconsisten- at Fairbanks Morse Defense. In his role, Nirav man- cies to achieve even more consistent output.

ages the aftermarket efforts to meet the Navy’s needs across the Fairbanks Morse Defense portfolio. A re-

Through AI and machine learning applications, robotic plat- tired submarine of