Universal Robots Partners with Viam to Transform Automation Solutions for Marine Sectors and Beyond

Odense, Denmark, November 18, 2025: Universal Robots (UR) is powering a new era of marine manufacturing automation through its partnership with Viam, a modern software engineering platform for robotics. At the center of this collaboration is a robotic block sanding system designed to streamline fiberglass sanding for yacht builders - a task that is traditionally very labor-intensive and physically demanding.

The solution combines UR’s proven UR Series cobots with Viam’s adaptive software to deliver precision, consistency, and efficiency. By automating sanding and other surface preparation processes, manufacturers can reduce delays, improve quality, and address ongoing labor shortages.

Viam’s platform adds an AI powered intelligent software layer that makes automation highly adaptable: it can run on a wide range of hardware and dynamically switch between different UR cobot arm sizes to suit varying component dimensions - from small parts to large hulls.

This flexibility allows manufacturers to deploy solutions quickly without redesigning workflows, while Viam’s real-time control and monitoring capabilities ensure precision and consistency across processes, enabling manufacturers to deploy automation quickly and confidently.

While fiberglass sanding is the first marine application, Viam’s technology also supports gelcoat and paint application, wood sanding, and polishing - extending automation benefits to furniture, construction, and industrial manufacturing.

“Viam’s intelligent software layer combined with Universal Robots’ cobots can enable rapid adoption of automation,” said Viam Founder and CEO Eliot Horowitz. “They are a true industry leader in robotic hardware and will help us to scale our solutions globally, both in the marine sector and in manufacturing broadly.”

The system will make its European debut at Metstrade 2025 in Amsterdam, November 18–20. The solution, which features Universal Robots UR Series, was recently on view at IBEX 2025, The International BoatBuilders’ Exhibition & Conference, in Tampa, Florida.