Page 19 - Welding Robots Technology, System Issues, and Applications

Introduction and Overview
3

some kind of automation should be used to perform the welding task. This should
lead to cheaper products since productivity and quality can be increased, and
production costs and manpower can be decreased [17]. Nevertheless, when a robot
is added to a welding setup the problems increase in number and in complexity.
Robots are still difficult to use and program by regular operators, have limited
remote facilities and programming environments, and are controlled using closed
systems and limited software interfaces [18]-[22].

APIs
Interfaces
Industrial Manipulators

Industrial Mobile Robots

Humanoid Robots
Source Space Robots

Open Medical Robots (Tele-Operated)

Figure 1.2. Traditional and modern fields in robotics research: where is open source
needed?

In this book, most of these problems are addressed in detail along with a
comprehensive presentation and discussion of a laboratory system built with the
main objective of being a test bed for welding experiments. Our experience with
the system shows that it has potentialities for industrial utilization, and in fact that
idea is explored in the book, using industrial partner test-cases. For that purpose
mainly industrial equipment was selected in designing the system, as a way to
facilitate its industrial exploitation. The book also addresses aspects of system
programming and welding parameterization, which constitute one of the main
contributions of the book.

1.1.1 Why Robotic Welding and a CAD Programming Interface?

Automation of the welding process is a very challenging area of research in the
fields of robotics, sensor technology, control systems and artificial intelligence.
This book discusses the automation of the welding process taking as an example