Page 163 - Welding Robots Technology, System Issues, and Applications

Robotic Welding: Application Examples 151

purpose here is on components and on integration with the environment chosen for
operation, not in discussing the possibilities of each technology. Since we use
Microsoft Windows operating systems, mainly Windows NT/XP and 2000, which
are accepted standards in industry, ActiveX is somehow privileged because it was
specially built for those environments and is based on DCOM like the operating
system.

gas

ign_sched
sched-on T1 T2 heat_sched weld_sched fill_sched t

t

power on

t
T5 T5
wf on

t
4x anal.
ref.

ignition time out t
arc_OK signal supervision
(di SR)

t
robot
move
to pos scrape forward next pos
t
T3 D/T4 T6 T7 T8

Figure 5.2. Welding sequence implemented by the robot controller (all the timings are
programmable by the user)

Using a software control means implementing methods and data structures that
hide from the user all the tricky parts about how to have things done with some
equipment, focusing only on using its functions in an easy way. Furthermore, those
components are easily integrated into new projects built with programming tools
that can act as containers of that type of software controls, i.e., they can be added
to new projects in a visual way. We built several ActiveX software components to
use with this project. Those controls reveal to the programmer the basic