[Edaily Reporter Shin Ha-yeon ] VIRNECT Co., Ltd.(438700), a physical artificial intelligence (AI) company specializing in manufacturing and defense, is partnering with HD KOREA SHIPBUILDING & OFFSHORE ENGINEERING and HD HYUNDAI HEAVY INDUSTRIES to pursue a project applying cutting-edge technologies such as augmented reality (AR) and AI to shipbuilding and offshore sites.

VIRNECT Co., Ltd. announced on the 23rd that it had signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with HD KOREA SHIPBUILDING & OFFSHORE ENGINEERING and HD HYUNDAI HEAVY INDUSTRIES to “enhance on-site safety and improve work efficiency through AR, XR, and smart sensing.” The signing ceremony took place on the 21st at the HD HYUNDAI Global R&D Center (GRC).

This agreement was established to combine the technologies and on-site infrastructure possessed by the three companies to identify smart solutions suitable for shipyard work environments and evaluate their commercialization potential.

Under the agreement, HD KOREA SHIPBUILDING & OFFSHORE ENGINEERING and HD HYUNDAI HEAVY INDUSTRIES will identify worksites requiring technology implementation and assess demand, while conveying improvement requests arising during work processes to VIRNECT Co., Ltd. Based on this input, VIRNECT Co., Ltd. plans to select and demonstrate technologies suitable for the worksite and refine the solutions by incorporating the results and on-site feedback.

In particular, they will explore ways to integrate AR, AI, and robotics technologies into the process of building smart shipyards, such as Future-Oriented Shipyards (FOS) and digital twins. The plan is to apply these technologies to key challenges on the production floor—such as the visualization of work information, equipment monitoring, and safety management—and verify their feasibility.

Depending on the results of the pilot program, the three companies plan to expand the scope of technology application in the shipbuilding and offshore sectors and explore joint commercialization. The agreement is for a term of two years, and specific project details will be determined through future discussions.

VIRNECT Co., Ltd. has been supplying industrial solutions—including remote collaboration, AR-based work support, and quality inspection—to the manufacturing, plant, and defense sectors. Through this collaboration, the company aims to expand the application of its existing industrial technologies to the shipbuilding and offshore sectors.

A VIRNECT Co., Ltd. official stated, “The shipbuilding and offshore sectors involve many large structures and complex processes, creating significant demand for on-site work support and safety management technologies,” adding, “Together with HD KOREA SHIPBUILDING & OFFSHORE ENGINEERING and HD HYUNDAI HEAVY INDUSTRIES, we will create practical use cases on-site and translate these into successful business collaborations.”