A robotic welder had NSW Industry Minister Anthony Roberts captivated during a visit to the University of Wollongong on Tuesday.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The technology, devised by a team of researchers from the NSW arm of the Defence Materials Technology Centre (DMTC), is at the forefront of converting technical know-how into defence capability.
Inside at shed at the university’s Wollongong campus lies a collection of robots and the advanced welding processes associated with them.
It’s “like a sandpit”, where industry and research come together, researcher Doctor Stephen Van Duin says.
“What we are doing is finding ways to better program those robots, to find better ways to actually use the welding technology, so that we can transfer that knowledge onto the factory floor,” Dr Van Duin, who leads the DMTC’s maritime research, said.
That knowledge transfer has been done successfully in the past, most notably with Australian Army Bushmaster vehicles, which are saving lives on deployment in dangerous environments.
“Australian industry has very specific requirements and some of the technologies that we have to develop here will add on to those already existing technologies,” he said.
The Illawarra has also been the base for the development and manufacture of armoured steel for use in submarines, frigates and air warfare destroyers.
“The Illawarra is critical; it has the natural resources, it has the skilled workforce and it has those small and medium enterprises that are fluid enough to be very successful into the future of defence,” Mr Roberts said.
“We can’t keep hiding the light under the bushel, we’ve got a lot to celebrate, and particularly in the Illawarra, where you have magnificent creations such as this [robotic welder].
“These are things that we need to showcase, we need to get them out there and they will bring jobs, opportunity and money into the region.”
The minister was in Wollongong to announce several Illawarra-based businesses would be showcased at a national defence expo later this year.
Mr Roberts said the “time was ripe” for Illawarra businesses to benefit from the recently-announced increase in federal government defence spending.
“There’s $195 billion over the next decade that is being spent in this area [defence] and we, as a government in NSW, want to make sure that, through the Illawarra, NSW gets its fair share,” he said.
South Nowra-based Global Defence Solutions, ship repair and maintenance specialist Phoenix Australasia from Unanderra and Advantage Wollongong will be on show at the upcoming Land Forces 2016 expo in Adelaide from September 6 to 8.