International Shipbreaking to add robotics technology

Marine recycler International Shipbreaking LLC (ISL), Brownsville, Texas, plans to introduce robotics to its operations that use software developed by a team of academics and engineers in Massachusetts. The robots will assist the company’s employees in cutting metal using oxy-propane torches as some of the world’s largest vessels are decommissioned, according to the company, which is part of U.K.-based metal recycling company EMR.

“As part of the EMR group, a global leader in sustainable materials, ISL is working to transform the global metal recycling industry,” says Roger Morton, director of Technology and Innovation at the EMR Group. “We’re utilizing the latest technology to bring a range of benefits, whether that’s to improve sustainability or increase safety.”

Shipbreaking can be among the most hazardous sectors of the metal recycling industry, the company says. Unregulated shipbreakers operating on the beaches of Bangladesh and India see dozens of fatalities a year arising from collapsing structures or falling debris. While ISL says it operates under strict conditions, including risk assessments, regular external inspections and a culture that empowers staff to raise concerns, the potential for harm remains.  

“Imagine you are burning off 5-foot portions of steel on the flight deck of an aircraft carrier like the USS Kitty Hawk and you’re in the 40 C (104 F) Brownsville sun—wouldn’t you rather a robot did that?” Morton asks. “These vessels were built in the 1950s and ’60s and we have little or no data on what paints or other materials have got stuck behind the walls in the decades since then. Using a robot would reduce the risk to our staff while still utilizing their expert knowledge to identify how and where to remove material.” 

Under the new system, once an ISL employee has planned which section of the vessel must be removed, he or she will show the robot where to cut. The software being developed will then allow the robot to identify the desired cutting line, how far it extends and the best angle to position the attached torch, the company says. Operators can then stay a safe distance away, while the robot burns along the line, reducing the risk of harm.   

“EMR has always been a leader in safety and environmental standards, but this new system, once fully developed, will also help ISL increase productivity and allow it to compete with those low-cost shipbreakers in Asia, encouraging more merchant ship operators and military customers to choose to recycle their vessels more sustainably,” Morton adds.  

Assistant Professor Berk Calli and doctoral researcher James Akl are developing the technology in the Department of Robotics Engineering at Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Massachusetts. The first phase of the research is focused on testing the software that underpins the robotic system, giving it complex-shaped objects based on real-world examples of scrap metal and using this to create a cutting point plan. The team is focused on how to control the oxy-propane cutting system automatically, ISL says.  

“We’ve already filed three patent applications and several papers, and we’re not aware of anyone developing anything similar to this,” Morton says. “We are breaking new ground. The next step is merging the imaging and manipulation system with the cutting equipment, and this part of the project will be the team’s focus over the next six to nine months.” 

Once the technology is fully developed and tested, it will be manufactured commercially and made available to shipbreaking companies around the world, helping to improve the safety and sustainability of the industry as a whole, according to the company.  

“ISL is developing this technology because it is what we need to further increase safety standards at our sites,” Morton says. “But as a market leader, we also want to improve safety across the industry. And the productivity benefits that this system will offer for responsible recyclers should, we hope, help them compete with those operating shipbreaking on beaches who care neither about safety nor the environmental damage they do."