Hanwha Ocean tests humanoid robot AeiROBOT Alice at the shipyard

Hanwha Ocean is preparing to test the humanoid robot AeiROBOT Alice at its shipyard in Geoje. The pilot project aims to address labor shortages and improve safety in heavy shipbuilding operations.

Pilot project at the shipyard

The pilot includes Hanwha Ocean, robotics company AeiROBOT and 3D AI company NdotLight. The partners plan to demonstrate a physical AI humanoid robot and intend to confirm the functionality of the technology within a year.

Hanwha Ocean will use the trials to evaluate how humanoid robots can fit into shipbuilding operations. Particular attention is paid to hazardous inspection areas, repetitive transport tasks and other labor-intensive work. These scenarios are important because shipyards combine large workspaces, changing layouts, and physically complex tasks that are difficult to automate with fixed systems.

Training on a digital twin

The program will begin not on the production floor, but in a virtual shipyard. NdotLight will build a digital twin of the shipyard using Nvidia Omniverse and Nvidia Isaac Sim. This will give the robot a simulated environment to train and test before deployment on site.

This approach suggests that partners view the shipyard as a highly variable environment where pre-vetting is critical. The digital twin will help you test navigation routes, obstacle interactions, and task sequences under realistic conditions.

For humanoid robotics, this is a practical part. Shipyards involve uneven terrain, cluttered work areas, and temporary structures. Simulation is used as a way to reduce deployment risks and test whether a generic form factor can handle environments less structured than a warehouse or assembly line.

Key Testable Abilities

As part of the project, AeiROBOT will evaluate whether Alice can handle several key functions in the shipyard. Key abilities tested include:

Transporting heavy loads

Offline navigation

Walking on uneven surfaces

Avoiding Obstacles

Working with tools

These tasks point to the pilot's main technical issue. The issue is not simply whether a humanoid can work in a shipyard, but whether it can reliably move through irregular spaces while carrying loads, avoid hazards, and manipulate tools to support actual work.

Perspectives and context

Alice already attracted attention earlier this year when Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang showed it off during his CES keynote as an example of physical AI doing welding work in a shipyard, reports splash247.com. This Hanwha Ocean pilot project moves the discussion from demonstration value to site-specific verification.

The source does not specify when a decision on full deployment may follow. What is clear is that shipbuilders are beginning to test whether humanoids can be useful in areas where fixed automation has limited reach and safety and workforce availability remain constant constraints.

Source: splash247.com