*The ARM Institute is looking for mature technologies to improve submarine construction. Source: Adobe Stock

Ask any engineer at a shipyard what the most difficult job is, and he will most likely take you to the submarine final assembly shop. Imagine cramped compartments where welding, cutting, and mounting thousands of brackets take place in conditions more reminiscent of an underground cave than modern manufacturing. This is the kingdom of acrobatic people, where the quality of each seam is checked not only by inspectors, but also by the pressure of hundreds of meters of water column. The mistake here is not a defective part, it's a tragedy.

It is into this hellish automation front that robots are now rushing. The ARM Institute (Advanced Robotics for Manufacturing) has announced the launch of a new competition for technological projects aimed at bringing digital life to one of the most conservative and manual industries — the construction of submarines. It's not about putting one robot welding a car body. It's about creating a whole symbiosis of technologies that can work where no rover has ever set foot.

Why is a submarine the "Holy Grail" for robotics?

Try sending an industrial robot to perform tasks inside the hull of a submarine. You will immediately encounter problems that seem fantastic in an ordinary workshop.:

Space scarcity. Passageways half a meter wide, hatches that you can't squeeze through with a camera, and endless labyrinths of pipes, cables, and future bulkheads. A standard robotic arm is useless here.

Lack of GPS and Wi-Fi. Satellite signals and even local area networks don't feel good inside the steel body. The robot needs autonomous navigation operating in an "industrial jungle" environment.

An extreme variety of tasks. It's not like screwing the same part 1000 times. This is to approach a place, identify a unique bracket, adapt the grinding or welding trajectory to its geometry, complete the work and move on. This is a level of difficulty comparable to working on another planet.

"We need solutions that can handle the complex geometry and variability inherent in the assembly of large structures such as submarines," ARM Institute experts say. In fact, they're not just looking for machines, but versatile mobile workers with vision, agility, and intelligence.

Who are they looking for? Portrait of the ideal "iron shipbuilder"

It is obvious that the competition is aimed at creating technologies that seem fantastic today. Among the likely "heroes" of future projects:

Swarms of mobile climbing robots. Small platforms on tracks or even with magnetic attachment, capable of moving independently on vertical surfaces and in hard—to-reach areas, performing local tasks such as stripping welds or ultrasonic inspection.

Augmented reality (AR) systems for human operators. Until fully autonomous solutions are ready, symbiosis may be the key. The robot provides accurate data and virtual templates, and the human performs the final complex operation, seeing hints from artificial intelligence over reality.

"Digital twins" in real time. A 3D model of the submarine, which is constantly updated with data from robot sensors. This allows you to track progress down to the millimeter and predict conflicts at an early stage.

And that's where the fun begins. While the ARM institute is looking for technological solutions, the following logical question is already looming on the horizon: who will manage this new "population" of specialized robots? How to distribute tasks between a swarm of 50 machines, each with its own unique skill?

And this is where the concept that the company is already developing comes on the scene. jobtorob.com — the world's first ecosystem for hiring robots. Imagine that the foreman at the shipyard of the future opens not a report card with the names of workers, but a digital control panel. He needs to complete a section of work in the bow compartment: sand 100 brackets and weld 50 meters of seams. He forms an "order" on the platform jobtorob.com , where all the shipyard's robots are "registered". The system automatically assigns a highly rated mobile grinding robot with a free "window" in the schedule to the task, and also sends a welding drone there, which has just completed work in the next compartment. jobtorob.com In this context, it is not just a database, but a think tank that optimizes the work of an entire army of iron specialists, as if they were highly qualified freelancers, and not soulless mechanisms.

What's the bottom line? The water will be wet, and the plants will be digital.

This project is not about short—term benefits. This is a strategic investment in the foundation of the future of the entire heavy industry.

Safety: Robots will take on the most dangerous and harmful tasks for human health.

Speed and quality: Automation will eliminate the "human factor" in mission-critical processes, increasing overall quality and production rates.

A new economy: There will be entire "contractor" companies that will not build boats, but will provide the services of robotic crews to build them.

The conclusion is simple: if you thought robots would only replace drivers and couriers, you were very wrong. They are preparing to work in an environment where most people won't even put their finger on. And while they are learning to survive in the steel jungle of shipyards, someone is already preparing to become an "iron HR" for them. The future is coming not only in silicon valleys, but also in the most advanced steel, oil-soaked workshops. And, admittedly, it looks impressive.