Five IBEX Seminars Turning Tomorrow’s Technology into Today’s Reality
Technology moves quickly in the marine industry. Artificial intelligence, autonomous systems, robotics, foiling, and 3D printing were still largely futuristic concepts when they first began appearing in IBEX seminar discussions over the past decades. Today, they’re moving out of the experimental stage and into boats, design offices, and production shops.
IBEX has been part of those conversations from the beginning, bringing together the people developing new technologies with the designers, builders, engineers, and technicians figuring out how to put them to work. Ideas that started as possibilities discussed in seminar rooms are becoming practical tools and techniques our industry can use today.
This year, the conversation moves forward again. How do we take technologies that have proven they can work and make them practical, scalable, safe, and profitable? What have early adopters learned? And where should boatbuilders invest next?
If you’re thinking about the future of your boats or your business, put these five sessions on your IBEX schedule:
Foiling Boats: How to Safely Mainstream This Technology to Commercial and Consumer Markets
Tuesday, October 6 | 10:30 a.m.
Foiling is no longer confined to racing boats and experimental prototypes. The technology has proven its ability to dramatically improve speed and efficiency, and foiling vessels are beginning to move into commercial and recreational markets.
That transition raises a new set of questions. What will it take to move foiling from specialized applications into everyday boating? How do designers and builders create vessels that deliver the advantages of foiling while remaining safe, reliable, and practical for consumers?
Join the conversation about what comes next as foiling moves into the mainstream.
AI at the Helm: Advancements in Electronics and Autonomous Systems
Tuesday, October 6 | 1:00 p.m.
Will boats eventually be better at driving themselves than we are?
AI-assisted docking, navigation, collision avoidance, and autonomous vessel technology are rapidly advancing. The question is shifting from whether these systems are possible to how—and how quickly—we should incorporate them into the boats we build.
The conversation began in the pages of Professional BoatBuilder, where Drew Orvieto examined the risks and rewards of intelligent technology at sea in 2025. At IBEX, that conversation continues face-to-face. What can these systems do today? Where are their limitations? And how do we incorporate increasing levels of autonomy without compromising safety?
3D Printed Boats: From Concept to Water
Wednesday, October 7 | 3:00 p.m.
For years, we’ve asked: Can we really 3D-print boats?
Increasingly, the answer is yes.
As large-format additive manufacturing improves, builders are moving beyond prototypes and demonstrating that 3D printing can produce real, functional vessels. The latest issue of Professional BoatBuilder explores that advancement through Evolution Boats and its work printing tenders.
Now bring those ideas into the seminar room. What goes into designing and manufacturing a printed boat? Which materials and processes are working? And perhaps most importantly, what will it take to scale the technology for wider use in boatbuilding?
The experiment is becoming a reliable manufacturing method. Join the conversation about where it goes from here.
3D Printing Molds for Boatbuilders
Wednesday, October 7 | 8:00 a.m.
Not ready to print an entire boat? Start with a mold.
One of the most immediately practical applications of large-format additive manufacturing is 3D printing molds and tooling for traditional boatbuilding. For production builders and custom shops alike, the technology has the potential to change how quickly and efficiently tooling can move from a digital design to the shop floor.
What kinds of molds are builders printing today? How must they be designed differently from traditionally manufactured tooling? Where does the technology make financial sense, and where doesn’t it?
This session takes the conversation from what’s possible to what’s practical.
Adopting Robotics and AI on the Shop Floor
Wednesday | 1:00 p.m.
Will robots be building boats soon? In some shops, they’re already helping.
Boatbuilders are beginning to introduce robotics for labor-intensive processes such as sanding and fairing while exploring how AI can make manufacturing processes more efficient. Professional BoatBuilder has followed that evolution, including Aaron Porter’s 2025 look at Viking Yachts’ first steps toward sanding automation.
At IBEX, we’ll push the conversation further. Which jobs are best suited to automation? Where can robotics improve consistency, productivity, and working conditions? How can AI support these systems? And what does a realistic first step look like for a boatbuilder interested in bringing this technology onto the shop floor?
The Future Is a Conversation
The most valuable part of emerging technology isn’t simply seeing what someone else has built. It’s getting the people who design boats, build them, test them, regulate them, repair them, and use them into the same room.
That’s what happens at IBEX.
The technologies in these sessions are moving quickly, and many of the questions surrounding them don’t have definitive answers yet. Come hear what’s working, challenge assumptions, share what you’re seeing in your own shop, and help shape what happens next.
