Robots for hull ship cleaning

Abstract

A critical operation for ship maintenance is periodical hull blasting before re-painting. Up to date some partial solutions exist like blasting turbines for vertical surfaces or water blasting units for striping. This paper presents the EFTCoR family of robots, designed by DSIE, that represent an integral solution for hull blasting that achieves the efficiency, safety and environmental requirements of shipyards. The paper also shows the results of the tests performed under real working conditions and a brief summary of the architectural framework for the robotic systems development.