In context
In late 2023, the US Navy's Columbia-class submarine program—a $132 billion effort—faced manufacturing bottlenecks, particularly in weld inspection, which is critical for quality and safety. The need to modernize shipbuilding processes and address workforce shortages was pressing, making robotic inspection a timely solution.
What was reported
Gecko Robotics, a specialist in advanced robotics and software, signed a demonstration contract with the US Navy to help modernize manufacturing for the Columbia-class program. The agreement, executed with BlueForge Alliance, a nonprofit integrator supporting the Navy's Submarine Industrial Base, will incorporate Gecko's robotic digital weld inspections to assess weld integrity during production.
The goal is to decrease inspection time and reduce costs while providing a baseline of data to improve in-service maintenance cycles. Digitizing weld inspection results will transform a key manufacturing process, freeing skilled workers for higher-value tasks and eliminating the risk of unknown weld conditions.
Gecko CEO Jake Loosararian noted that demand for front-end manufacturing data to enable better predictive maintenance is growing. The project aims to validate the return on investment across several tiers of the Columbia-class supply chain.
Why it mattered
This initiative highlighted the growing role of robotics in defense manufacturing, demonstrating how digital inspection can accelerate production timelines and enhance data-driven maintenance—a model applicable to broader industrial automation.
“Demand from customers for more data on the front-end of the manufacturing process to help implement better predictive maintenance is growing.”
Source: Robotics & Automation News (roboticsandautomationnews.com) · Published 2023-11-15 · “Gecko Robotics to help ‘increase speed of nuclear submarine manufacturing process’”