Like many advanced economies, Australia faces a looming shortage of skilled tradespeople.
CSIRO Robot Manufacturing Team senior research scientist Dr Peter King says Australia needs 70,000 welders by the year 2030.
“Whereas in the past, we had these people, now the younger generation is more interested in other professions. That leaves us with the problem of keeping critical infrastructure running and manufacturing things,” Dr King said.
CSIRO’s Continuous3D project is giving robots the ’brains and eyes’ they need to make industrial repairs more efficient - while also addressing the sector’s shortage of skilled labour.
Rolling out repair robots
“The first part of a project typically involves a lot of robot programming, and that can often be quite a headache,” Dr King said.
“Often you want to get down to actually doing the task, but the first thing you’ve got to do is spend a bunch of time with the robot offline.”
The Continuous3D system changes this paradigm by equipping industrial robots with advanced sensors such as laser scanners and intelligent software.
“We gave the robot brains, as in the software, and we gave it eyes, which is the sensor. A robot equipped with those two things is able to understand the work it has in front of it and act,” explained Dr King.
“It’s a relatively small sensor – it might weigh a few kilos or so, and it’s very robust. It’s attached to the robot arm and there’s a connection to a computer there as well. So, the robot controller, the computer controlling the robot, is connected to a PC running our software.”
This means that instead of painstakingly programming robots for each new repair job, measuring the work piece and even creating CAD files, operators can rely on Continuous3D’s software to automatically generate the necessary tool paths. The robot scans the component, identifies areas that need repair, and creates a plan to rebuild the surface - often in minutes rather than hours.
The Continuous3D system changes this paradigm by equipping industrial robots with advanced sensors such as laser scanners and intelligent software.
“We gave the robot brains, as in the software, and we gave it eyes, which is the sensor. A robot equipped with those two things is able to understand the work it has in front of it and act,” explained Dr King.
“It’s a relatively small sensor – it might weigh a few kilos or so, and it’s very robust. It’s attached to the robot arm and there’s a connection to a computer there as well. So, the robot controller, the computer controlling the robot, is connected to a PC running our software.”
This means that instead of painstakingly programming robots for each new repair job, measuring the work piece and even creating CAD files, operators can rely on Continuous3D’s software to automatically generate the necessary tool paths. The robot scans the component, identifies areas that need repair, and creates a plan to rebuild the surface - often in minutes rather than hours.
Handling complex geometries
“With printing, you are often printing onto a flat surface, and that comes down to the design of the 3D printer,” Dr King said.
“What you can do with the robot is you actually have six degrees of freedom, allowing the robot arm to move in different orientations and to grow material in different directions. That’s incredibly useful and flexible, but you need to have the maths to be able to produce the tool path. That’s what we’ve done.”
The result is a system that can repair curved surfaces, complex castings and other challenging shapes, opening new possibilities for in-situ repairs and large-format additive manufacturing.
Industry applications
The potential applications for Continuous3D are vast, Dr King said, with mining and aircraft maintenance two focus areas at present.
“Right now, we often work with robots that have, say, payload capacities of 20 to 60 kilograms… the kinds of robots that handle metal spray equipment, manipulating welding torches or laser cladding heads,” he said.
“Now in in the future, we imagine that you could be using mobile robots. So instead of taking components offline and shutting down a line… you could bring the robot with the tool to the point of need, so that it actually does the repair on site where the equipment is wearing down – on a mine site, on board a ship or in dry dock.”
The Continuous3D system is designed to be flexible, retrofitting onto existing industrial robot arms. The sensors are robust, capable of operating in dusty, hot and otherwise challenging environments. The system can handle components ranging from large mining buckets to small, intricate engine parts.
Continuous3D is already in use across several CSIRO labs and is being trialled with industry partners in mining and aerospace.
“We are currently working with a number of companies,” Dr King said.
“One example is doing metal spray repair onto complex shaped castings used in aircraft engines. We also have components that have been coated using our technology out for evaluation in the mining industry.”
Dr King adds that Continuous3D is not a cloud-based solution, meaning it could offer some peace of mind for industries concerned about data security and industrial reliability.
“If you've got a heavy capacity robot moving around and operating high energy processes, the last thing you want is for it to stop just because the internet cut out,” he said.
“In terms of data security, the software is designed in a way that the data never leaves the user's site.”
“Right now, we often work with robots that have, say, payload capacities of 20 to 60 kilograms… the kinds of robots that handle metal spray equipment, manipulating welding torches or laser cladding heads,” he said.
“Now in in the future, we imagine that you could be using mobile robots. So instead of taking components offline and shutting down a line… you could bring the robot with the tool to the point of need, so that it actually does the repair on site where the equipment is wearing down – on a mine site, on board a ship or in dry dock.”
The Continuous3D system is designed to be flexible, retrofitting onto existing industrial robot arms. The sensors are robust, capable of operating in dusty, hot and otherwise challenging environments. The system can handle components ranging from large mining buckets to small, intricate engine parts.
Continuous3D is already in use across several CSIRO labs and is being trialled with industry partners in mining and aerospace.
“We are currently working with a number of companies,” Dr King said.
“One example is doing metal spray repair onto complex shaped castings used in aircraft engines. We also have components that have been coated using our technology out for evaluation in the mining industry.”
Dr King adds that Continuous3D is not a cloud-based solution, meaning it could offer some peace of mind for industries concerned about data security and industrial reliability.
“If you've got a heavy capacity robot moving around and operating high energy processes, the last thing you want is for it to stop just because the internet cut out,” he said.
“In terms of data security, the software is designed in a way that the data never leaves the user's site.”
Helping, not replacing, humans
Dr King added that Continuous3D doesn’t aim to replace human workers, but to augment their capabilities.
“If you are doing welding manually, there are plenty of studies as to how long the welding torch is actually on. For humans, it’s less than 20% of the time,” Dr King explained.
“If you are doing that robotically, you can get potentially five times improvement in efficiency. Now you still have the human there, supervising a robot or perhaps supervising many robots.”
This shift allows skilled workers to focus on higher-level tasks - such as quality control and decision-making - while robots handle the repetitive, physically demanding and sometimes dangerous work.
“If you are doing welding manually, there are plenty of studies as to how long the welding torch is actually on. For humans, it’s less than 20% of the time,” Dr King explained.
“If you are doing that robotically, you can get potentially five times improvement in efficiency. Now you still have the human there, supervising a robot or perhaps supervising many robots.”
This shift allows skilled workers to focus on higher-level tasks - such as quality control and decision-making - while robots handle the repetitive, physically demanding and sometimes dangerous work.
Calling for collaborators
The team is actively seeking new collaborators and sees potential for the technology to expand beyond metals to polymers, composites and even concrete.
“Nowadays you can print almost anything,” Dr King said.
“If you can stick it on a robot, we’ll take a look at it.”
As manufacturing faces the twin challenges of labour shortages and increasing complexity, technologies such as Continuous3D offer a glimpse into the future, where humans and robots work side by side, combining the best of both worlds to keep industry moving forward.
For more information about Continuous3D and opportunities for collaboration, visit the Continuous3D website to contact the project team.
“Nowadays you can print almost anything,” Dr King said.
“If you can stick it on a robot, we’ll take a look at it.”
As manufacturing faces the twin challenges of labour shortages and increasing complexity, technologies such as Continuous3D offer a glimpse into the future, where humans and robots work side by side, combining the best of both worlds to keep industry moving forward.
For more information about Continuous3D and opportunities for collaboration, visit the Continuous3D website to contact the project team.
This article was originally published by the Australian Manufacturing Technology Institute, October 2025