Development and application of Mobile Robot system for Marking Process in LNGC cargo tanks

Of late large scale automation is becoming a fast trend in shipyards. Especially in the construction of LNG carriers automation is becoming rather a must have necessity. This necessity hence brought in an idea to automate the ldquomarking processrdquo involved in construction of LNGC Tanks. Further, to make this idea a reality we have developed a ldquomobile robotrdquo which is capable of automating the ldquomarking processrdquo. For the localization of this self controlled ldquomobile robotrdquo we have used ldquoindoor GPSrdquo system which is a 3D measurement system. Using the above system and an accurate alignment module, ldquoline markingrdquo was achieved using the mobile robot. Also, Stud bolt preprocessing along with tank´s wall surface flatness measurement is done using the ldquolaser sensorsrdquo fitted onto this robot. Hence, by using this robot to automate the ldquomarking processrdquo in the construction of LNGC Tanks we can definitely improve the accuracy in marking by reducing all possible human errors.