Does keeping a human in the loop always produce better results? Heather Carroll, Chief Revenue Officer at Path Robotics, joins Nick Chubb and Raal Harris on UnDocked to explore how physical AI is changing robotic welding and what this could mean for shipbuilding, skilled workers and the future of maritime manufacturing.

CHAPTERS

00:00 – Heather's journey into robotic welding

02:53 – Robots, jobs and the shortage of welders

05:53 – How AI learns to weld through practice

09:07 – The origins of Path Robotics

16:01 – Why conventional automation struggles in shipyards

17:17 – Rove: the robot dog that can weld

19:16 – How automation could change skilled work

21:55 – The submarine welder's extraordinary working conditions

23:55 – Rebuilding American shipbuilding capacity

34:32 – HII, Path Robotics and the HYPR programme

41:58 – What tomorrow's shipyards could look like

48:09 – Weld quality, inspection and costly rework

53:23 – Could robotic maintenance eventually move onboard?

56:51 – Challenging the human-in-the-loop assumption

1:01:24 – How AI operates within welding standards

1:06:06 – NAVSEA, ABS and accepting robotic welding

1:09:31 – Resilience, reshoring and future shipbuilding

Heather's interest in welding is personal. Her husband operated a manufacturing business that struggled to find skilled welders, a problem that eventually contributed to his decision to sell it.

She explains how Path Robotics trains its Obsidian AI model using real-world welding data, why conventional industrial robots struggle with shipbuilding and how mobile systems such as Rove might offer new possibilities.

The discussion covers Path's collaboration with Saronic and its work with HII and GrayMatter Robotics. Heather also describes the working conditions faced by a submarine welder, raising difficult questions about safety and how skilled labour is used.

Later, the conversation turns to an assumption familiar across maritime AI: that a human should always remain in the loop. Heather makes the case for allowing trained models to adapt within approved welding procedures, while acknowledging where human involvement and technical oversight remain essential.

Nick and Raal also explore the potential for robotic maintenance at sea, the challenges of gaining technical acceptance and what a more automated shipbuilding industry could look like.

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#UnDocked #Shipbuilding #PhysicalAI #MaritimeTechnology #Robotics

Recorded live at the Digital Ships Summit in Athens, Nick Chubb and Raal Harris debate whether shipping should prioritise efficiency or resilience as AI reshapes technology decisions.

From vendor dependence and workforce skills to governance and boardroom accountability, they ask how operators can embrace automation without surrendering control or flexibility.

CHAPTERS

• 00:20 IT's move from support to strategy
• 04:50 Episode partner: trusted fleet data
• 05:33 Efficiency or resilience?
• 09:42 Vendor lock-in and skills fade
• 15:14 Transforming organisations for AI
• 17:10 Leadership and AI governance
• 21:55 Measuring returns and building capability
• 27:11 Audience: data risks and shadow AI
• 32:29 Digital twins and human resilience

Live at the Digital Ships Summit in Athens, Nick and Raal begin with IT's move from back-office support to strategic decision-maker. What should shipping prioritise as technology becomes more central to operations?

Raal argues resilience must take priority over efficiency. Geopolitical disruption, recovery planning, vendor lock-in and skills fade can make efficient technology choices dangerously brittle. Nick calls this a false choice: resilience is unavoidable, while the bigger decision is how organisations transform for AI.

That requires informed leadership, practical governance, measurable returns and capabilities beyond IT. The audience confronts shadow AI, sensitive data and digital twins built from decades of institutional knowledge. They finish by considering how technology transformation can strengthen resilience rather than undermine it.

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A weak data foundation leads to unreliable decisions. The same is true for AI and analytics: they're only as good as the data they're fed. That's why getting the fundamentals right — data standards, structure and governance — has to come before scaling innovation.

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Two maritime conferences, one city, and two perspectives on shipping's future. Nick reports from Shipping UK, where geopolitics, resilience and digital investment dominated. Raal brings insights from Demystifying AI in Maritime, exploring trust, governance and seafarer wellbeing. Together, they examine the decisions maritime leaders can no longer afford to postpone.

CHAPTERS

• 00:00 Two conferences, one city: What you missed
• 01:12 Shipping UK: Geopolitics and national security
• 09:51 Resilience, decarbonisation and the true cost of shipping
• 14:01 Digital ROI: Measuring the return on technology investment
• 23:05 Demystifying AI in Maritime: From potential to practical application
• 27:47 The verification tax and AI's trust problem
• 30:24 Real-world AI applications and emerging risks
• 40:37 AI in the boardroom: Investment, accountability and people
• 50:31 Seafarers, shadow AI and the STEER project
• 55:14 AI bias and the importance of critical thinking

Nick and Raal compare notes from Shipping UK, hosted by the UK Chamber of Shipping, and Demystifying AI in Maritime, organised by Intent Communications. From national security to artificial intelligence, both events raised difficult questions about how shipping prepares for an increasingly uncertain future.

At Shipping UK, geopolitical risk dominated the conversation. A sobering keynote from Major General Paul Maynard highlighted the growing importance of commercial shipping to national security and the possibility that the UK may need to draw upon maritime expertise in a future conflict. But after decades of limited government investment in commercial maritime capabilities, is the industry equipped to respond?

The discussion turns to resilience and an uncomfortable economic reality: shipping may need to become more expensive. Building redundancy into supply chains, preparing for disruption and funding decarbonisation all require investment.

On a more practical note, Nick shares insights from his panel on digital return on investment. New benchmarking data reveals a significant jump in spending on AI and automation, while conventional IT budgets are being squeezed.

Across London, Raal attended Demystifying AI in Maritime, where the conversation has matured from excitement about AI's capabilities to more fundamental questions of trust and accountability.

Raal shares practical examples, including AI-powered food waste monitoring on cruise ships, alongside emerging threats from fraudulent certification, cyberattacks and information overload. A discussion with ABS also challenges the assumption that giving AI more context necessarily produces better answers.

The conversation then moves into the boardroom. How should directors evaluate AI investments when the technology is evolving faster than conventional governance processes? Finally, attention turns to seafarers, who are already adopting AI tools regardless of whether their employers have formal strategies in place.

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This episode is sponsored by GTT Marine.

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