Abstract: Ship operation and maintenance technology is the key to develop a safe, green, efficient water transportation system. With rapid progress of artificial intelligence technology, ship-borne robots are emerging to accomplish dangerous and heavy-duty operation and maintenance tasks, and becoming a research hotspot. Firstly, this paper introduces the domestic and international research status of ship-borne operation and maintenance robots and summarizes the main types of shipboard operation and maintenance operations; secondly, this paper combs through the application of ship-borne operation and maintenance robots in typical shipboard operation and maintenance operations such as ship inspection, bottom cleaning, rust removal and painting, cabin cleaning and inspection; again, this paper analyzes the current status of the key technologies of ship-borne operation and maintenance robots as well as the challenges; finally, this paper makes an outlook of the research and application of future ship-borne operation and maintenance robots.