SHIPWELD project will focus on a metal welding process applied to the ship building industry. The objective is to design a monitoring technique aiming to perform a good quality welding joint on a typical application in the ship building industry with a fully automatic welding system unit. Up to now the different section plates of ships are welded manually which causes inaccuracies due to the poor repeatability of the process. As a consequence of the working environment where the welding process takes place the welding staff risks their lives. The R&D activities focus the attention on monitoring the welding process of hulls. The project will yield new knowledge and understanding about different welding processes and the research activities to be performed will allow the online control and adjustment of the parameters and the welding path to ensure a good welded seam. Expected Results: The project aims at obtaining the following goals: - To take on the challenges of monitoring the welding process. - To develop a suitable system which adjusts the process parameters and the trajectory while welding. `- To determine measurable characteristics being incorporated into a fully automatic system used in the ship building industry. - An exemplary warranty of flow of information beyond the project period to stimulate new activities and identify further challenges. - To participate in the development of the ship building industry in the Atlantic Area and locating region spanning synergies. - To contribute, with the results of the networking experiences, to the programmes and policies at regional, national and European level. The expected results of SHIPWELD project are the following: - To guarantee the needs and the abilities of the different regions in the Atlantic Area to succeed in a significant increase in quality and tangible progress targeting an efficient automatic process applied in welding hulls. - A correlation between welding characteristics and signals captured while processing. - An intelligent control system. - A fluent brainstorming among bodies of the shipbuilding sector beyond the project period.