Welding Robots

Spot welding

Using robots for spot welding, although a very important area in terms of the number of robots
installed, is really a specialised and non-typical application. The majority of installations are in
the motor industry, where they are used predominantly in the assembly and re-spot lines for
car body production.

In general this application does not require a high degree of accuracy from the robot, but a high
load carrying capacity may be required. This is particularly true if it is considered desirable to
carry the welding transformer on the robot arm.

Arc welding

The continuous welding process most commonly used with robots is MIG welding, although
TIG welding is becoming increasingly popular. Whichever process is used, a high degree of
speed control and path repeatability is required from the robot to produce satisfactory welds.
As a rough rule of thumb, the welding wire must be positioned within its own diameter relative
to the joint. This means that with welding wire of 1mm diameter, the total accumulation of
positional errors between the welding wire and the joint must not exceed ±1mm.

A major problem with arc welding is often the accuracy of positioning the joint. Tolerances on
parts for assembly by welding, particularly heavy fabrications, are often of the order of several
millimetres, and it may prove very expensive to tighten those tolerances. The problem can
sometimes be overcome, at least partially, by careful attention to the design of jigs and fixtures.
This can not always provide a satisfactory solution, however, and it may prove more
cost-effective to use some form of seam-tracking.

Industrial robots capable of continuous-path operation can accomplish several types of

continuous arc welding process. These processes include gas metal arc welding (GMAW, also
called metal inert gas or MIG welding) and gas tungsten arc welding (GTAW, also called
tungsten inert gas or TIG welding). These kinds of operations are traditionally performed by
welders, who must often work under conditions, which are hot, uncomfortable, and sometimes
dangerous. Such conditions make this task a logical candidate for the application of industrial
robots.

However, there are several problems associated with arc welding which have hindered the
widespread use of robots in this process, these are as follows:

• arc welding is a fabricating process often used on low-volume products, hence the
economics involved in these cases make the use of any automation difficult,
robots included
 • dimensional variations in the components being arc welded are common, human
welders can compensate for these variations, robots cannot, at least not with
current technology
• human welders are often required to perform their trade in areas which are
difficult to access (inside vessels, tanks, ship hulls, etc)
• sensor technologies capable of monitoring the variations in the arc welding
process have not yet been fully developed.

As a result of these problems, robot arc welding applications have been fairly limited to
operations involving high or medium volumes where the components can be conveniently
handled and the dimensional variations can be reasonable managed.

A typical robotic arc welding station would consist of the following components:

1. A robot, capable of continuous path control.

2. A welding unit, consisting of the welding tool, power source, and the wire feed system.
3. A work part manipulator, which fixtures the components and positions them for welding.

The workstation controller is equipped to coordinate the wire feed and arc voltage with the
robot's arm movement. The activities of the work part manipulator must also be coordinated
by the controller. A human worker would load and unload the work parts from the manipulator.
Some robot welding stations have two part manipulators, so that the human worker can unload
and load one manipulator while the robot is welding at the other. This increases the utilization
of the equipment.

There are several advantages attributed to a robot welding station compared with its manually
operated counterpart. Among these are the following:

• higher productivity
• improved safety
• more consistent welds.

The higher productivity results from several factors, including:

• A human welder may weld with an average arc-on time of 20 to 30%, while a
robotic workstation can operate with an average of 60% or 70% arc-on time -
hence more welding takes place at the robot workstation.
• The use of a work part manipulator speeds up the loading and unloading time -
two fixture stations save even more time.
• The fatigue factor of the welder is reduced. Manual welding is a rather tiring
operation for the welder because of the hand-eye coordination needed and the
uncomfortable working conditions. Consequently, frequent rest periods are
necessary. These are not required by a robot.
• Many manual welding stations use two workers, a welder and a fitter. A robot
welding station eliminates the need for one of those workers. Note, however, that
the robotic workstation still requires a human operator to set and adjust the
welding process.
Painting Robots

Paint spraying was one of the first successful robot applications and still accounts for a
significant percentage of the robots installed. Unlike most other robot applications, the robots
used for paint spraying are specialised machines, designed specifically for painting. The
requirements of high speed and dexterity rather than high accuracy and load carrying capacity,
combined in many cases with the need for an intrinsically safe machine, make the use of general
purpose robots impractical.

Many large consumer products (e.g., automobiles and appliances) and most industrial products
require the application of some form of paint. When human workers apply this paint, the most
common method used is spray painting. However, the spray painting process poses certain
health hazards to the human operator. Among these are:

• Fumes and mist from the spraying operation. These create an uncomfortable and
sometimes toxic atmosphere.
• Noise from the spray nozzle. This noise is loud, and prolonged exposure can impair
hearing.
• Fire hazard. The mist of paint in the air within the workshop can result in flash fires.
• Possible cancer dangers. Certain of the ingredients used in the paint are suspected
of being carcinogenic.

Because of these health hazards, human workers are unenthusiastic about being exposed to the
spray-painting environment, and companies have been forced by federal law to construct
elaborate ventilating systems to protect their workers.

For these and other reasons, specialized industrial robots are being used more and more
frequently to perform spray painting and related processes. Spray painting requires a robot
capable of executing a smooth motion pattern, which will apply the paint or other fluid evenly
and avoid runs. To accomplish this, the robot is equipped with continuous-path control. The
paint spray nozzle becomes the end effector.

To teach the robot, the walk through method is commonly employed. An operator-programmer
manually leads the robot's end effector through the desired paint spray path. This defines the
motion sequence and relative speed for the work cycle. During playback, the robot repeats the
cycle to accomplish the paint spray operation.

There are many advantages of using robots for spray coating applications including:
• Safety
• The many safety hazards encountered when human operators perform the spray-
painting process are reduced.
• Coating consistency.
 • Once the program is established, the robot will deposit the paint or other coating with
the same speed, pattern, and spray rate on every cycle.
• Lower material usage.
• The robot's repeatability and consistency reduce wasted paint. Savings in this category
range between 10 and 50%.
• Less energy used.
• This results from reduced ventilation requirements since the human operator is removed
from the actual process.
• Greater productivity.
• The paint-spraying robot can perform the operation faster than its human counterpart.
It can also be used at this faster pace for three shifts per day.

Robots Using Tools

Welding and paint spraying are both examples of the situation where robots are required to
manipulate tools in order to carry out their designated tasks. There are a number of other
operations where it is appropriate for the robot to carry a tool of some sort. Probably the
common of these is fettling, although there are also a considerable number of installations for
de-burring, drilling, adhesive application, and milling or routing (especially of plastics or thin
sheet metal).

Processing Operations

This is a miscellaneous category in which the robot is used to perform some manufacturing
process other than welding or spray painting. Assembly and inspection operations are also
excluded, and they are covered in the following sections.

A specialized tool attached to the robot’s wrist as its end effector performs the processing
operation. The end effector is typically a powered spindle, which holds and rotates a tool such
as a drill. The robot would be used to bring the tool into contact with a stationary work part
during processing. In some applications the robot's hand is used for gripping the work part and
bringing it into contact with a tool held in a fixed position.

Some of the processing operations, which have been performed by industrial robots, include
drilling, riveting, grinding, polishing, deburring, wire brushing, and waterjet cutting.

The workstation has the following operating features:

• Integrated computer control of the workstation components.

• Automatic part identification. A commercially available optical character reader is
used to identify which work part is to be processed next.
• Mass data storage for part programs. After the work part has been identified, the
correct program for that part is selected from mass storage.
 • Automatic parts positioning. A weld positioner would be used as the work cell parts
positioner. It rotates the work part into the proper registration for the robot to
perform its drilling or routing process. While the robot works on one side of the
positioner, a human operator unloads a finished part and loads a new part on the
opposite side.
• Automatic tool changing. A tool rack is used to store drills and routing tools for the
operation. The appropriate tool for the task is selected automatically for the robot.

It should be noted that this work cell was the object of considerable sponsored research and
represents a more ambitious robot project than most of the applications included within this
category on processing operations.

Assembly

Assembly operations are seen as an area with big potential for robot applications. The reason
for this is based on economics and the technological capabilities of the robot. For mass
production assembly, the most economical method involves fixed automation, where the
equipment is designed specifically to produce the particular product.

The system would be composed of both conventional material handling devices (conveyors,
parts feeders, etc.) and robot arms, probably in an in-line arrangement . The robot arms would
be used for some parts handling duties, but its main function would be assembly. Robot
assembly operations would typically require an extension of the robot's material transfer
capability. Many subassemblies consist of a stack of components on top of a base pan. To put
together the subassembly requires the placement of one part on top of the base, then another
part on top of that, and so on. The robot is certainly capable of this sort of work cycle. Assembly
tasks, requiring a special skill or judgment, of which the robot is not capable, would be
performed by human workers.

The features of an industrial robot that make it suitable are its programmability and its
adaptability. Programmability is required so that a relatively complex motion cycle can be
carried out during the assembly operation. Adaptability is also required in the sense that the
assembly system would have to compensate for changes in the environment. These
environmental variations include:

• variations in the position and orientation of assembly components

• out-of-tolerance and defective parts
• the current state of completion of the subassembly
• detection of human beings or objects intruding on the robot's work volume.
Inspection

Traditionally, the inspection function has been a very labour intensive activity. The activity is
slow, tedious, and boring, and is usually performed by humans on a sampling basis rather than
by 100% inspection. With ever-increasing emphasis on quality in manufacturing, there is a
trend toward automating the inspection process and toward the use of 100% inspection by
machines instead of sampling inspection by human beings.

Robots equipped with mechanical probes, optical sensing capabilities, or other measuring
devices can be programmed to perform dimensional checking and other forms of inspection
operations.