Automation of production of steel yachts

This ph.D. work takes part in a research project of "Cantieri Azimut-Benetti", located in Livorno, Italy, and it is aimed to the automatization of the production of yachts made of steel: the project has different phases, from the construction of a 3D model of the entire yacht, the automated filler application and milling phase, until the final step of automated painting phase. The proposed solution consist on the integration between a complex robotic system and an optical scanning system which can be used in all different phases of the project. In this ph.D. work, we focused on the feasibility and reliability of the integration between the two systems, proposing an automated procedure for complete identification of the integrated system, scanning of the yacht and 3D model reconstruction. We will show tests done for every critical aspect of the problem and we will describe application cases in industrial producing problems.