As global maritime trade expands steadily, the demand for efficient ship maintenance continues to rise, while hull steel corrosion caused by long-term exposure to high-salt marine environments remains a major challenge that threatens ship structural safety and increases maintenance costs. Rust removal, as a key step in ship maintenance, directly affects the protective effect of hull coatings, making the development of automated, high-performance rust removal equipment an urgent need in the shipbuilding and repair industry. A wall-climbing robot dedicated to hull rust removal was designed and developed. Characterized by a compact structure, the rust removal robot was designed with an integrated configuration consisting of a three-wheeled chassis and a robotic arm. Its control system was integrated with four functional modules, namely motion control, execution, detection, and machine vision. Experimental results demonstrate that the horizontal zigzag path is identified as the optimal traveling pattern for the robot during operational processes. High positioning accuracy is achieved by the end effector of the robotic arm, and smooth coordination with the entire robot system is maintained. A climbing speed of 3.7 m/min is attained by the robot, and superior performance in turning and obstacle negotiation is exhibited by it, enabling hull rust removal tasks to be effectively accomplished. This research provides an independent technical solution for the advancement of ship maintenance automation in China, which is of great significance for breaking the monopoly of foreign technologies in this field.