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Robotic arc welding sensors and programming in industrial applications

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DOI: 10.1186/s40712-015-0042-y

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Kah et al. International Journal of Mechanical and
Materials Engineering (2015) 10:13
DOI 10.1186/s40712-015-0042-y

REVIEW ARTICLE Open Access

Robotic arc welding sensors and

programming in industrial applications
P Kah*, M Shrestha, E Hiltunen and J Martikainen

Abstract
Technical innovations in robotic welding and greater availability of sensor-based control features have enabled manual
welding processes in harsh work environments with excessive heat and fumes to be replaced with robotic welding. The
use of industrial robots or mechanized equipment for high-volume productivity has become increasingly common,
with robotized gas metal arc welding (GMAW) generally being used. More widespread use of robotic welding has
necessitated greater capability to control welding parameters and robotic motion and improved fault detection and
fault correction. Semi-autonomous robotic welding (i.e., highly automated systems requiring only minor operator
intervention) faces a number of problems, the most common of which are the need to compensate for inaccuracies in
fixtures for the workpiece, variations in workpiece dimensions, imperfect edge preparation, and in-process thermal
distortions. Major challenges are joint edge detection, joint seam tracking, weld penetration control, and measurement
of the width or profile of a joint. Such problems can be most effectively solved with the use of sensory feedback
signals from the weld joint. Thus, sensors play an important role in robotic arc welding systems with adaptive and
intelligent control system features that can track the joint, monitor in-process quality of the weld, and account for
variation in joint location and geometry. This work describes various aspects of robotic welding, programming of
robotic welding systems, and problems associated with the technique. It further discusses commercially available
seam-tracking and seam-finding sensors and presents a practical case application of sensors for semi-autonomous
robotic welding. This study increases familiarity with robotic welding and the role of sensors in robotic welding and
their associated problems.

Review Robert et al. 2013). The increase in the range of applica-

Introduction tions of robotic welding technology has led to a need to re-
Industrial robots and mechanized equipment have become duce operator input and enhance automated control over
indispensable for industrial welding for high-volume prod- welding parameters, path of robotic motion, fault detection,
uctivity because manual welding yields low production and fault correction (Schwab et al. 2008). Even though the
rates due to the harsh work environment and extreme level of complexity and sophistication of these robotic
physical demands (Laiping et al. 2005). Dynamic market systems is high, their ability to adapt to real-time
behavior and strong competition are forcing manufacturing changes in environmental conditions cannot equal the
companies to search for optimal production procedures. As ability of human senses to adapt to the weld environ-
shown in Fig. 1 (Pires et al. 2003), for small/medium ment (Hohn and Holmes 1982).
production volumes, robotic production yields the best cost According to the Robotics Institute of America, a robot is
per unit performance when compared to manual and hard a “reprogrammable, multifunctional manipulator designed
automation. In addition to competitive unit costs, robotic to move materials, parts, tools, or specialized devices, to
welding systems bring other advantages, such as improved variable programmed motions for the performance of a var-
productivity, safety, weld quality, flexibility and workspace iety of tasks.” While the first industrial robot was developed
utilization, and reduced labor costs (Robot et al. 2013a; by Joseph Engelburger already in the mid-1950s, it was not
until the mid-1970s that robotic arc welding was first used
in production. Subsequently, robotics has been adopted
* Correspondence: Paul.Kah@lut.fi
Laboratory of Welding Technology, Lappeenranta University of Technology,
with many welding processes. The advantages of robotic
Lappeenranta FI-53851, Finland welding vary from process to process but common benefits
© 2015 Kah et al. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium,
provided the original work is properly credited.
Kah et al. International Journal of Mechanical and Materials Engineering (2015) 10:13 Page 2 of 16

Fig. 1 Industrial robotics zone (Pires et al. 2003; Myhr 1999)

generally include improved weld quality, increased prod- Robotic configurations

uctivity, reduced weld costs, and increased repeatable Robots can be categorized based on criteria like degrees of
consistency of welding (Lane 1987). freedom, kinematics structure, drive technology, work-
space geometry, and motion characteristics (Tsai 2000). In
Robots in arc welding selection of robots for a specific application, all of these
Welding is an integral part of advanced industrial manu- factors need to be considered. Based on the workspace
facturing and robotic welding is considered the main geometry, robots with revolute (or jointed arm) configur-
symbol of modern welding technology (Cui et al. 2013). In ation are the most commonly used type in industrial ro-
the earliest applications of robotic welding, so-called first- botic arc welding (Ross et al. 2010). Figure 3 illustrates an
generation robotic welding systems, welding was per- example of a revolute configuration robot.
formed as a two-pass weld system, in which the first pass
was dedicated to learning the seam geometry and was Phases in welding operations
then followed by the actual tracking and welding of the The welding operation consists of three different phases
seam in the second pass. With developments in technol- that need critical consideration in designing a fully auto-
ogy came the second generation of robotic welding mated robotic welding system to achieve good perform-
systems, which tracked the seam in real time, perform- ance and weld quality (Pires et al. 2006):
ing simultaneously the learning and the seam-tracking
phases. The latest technology in robotic welding is Preparation phase In this phase, the weld operator sets
third-generation systems, in which the system not only up the parts to be welded, the apparatus (power source,
operates in real time but also learns the rapidly chan- robot, robot program, etc.) and the weld parameters, along
ging geometry of the seam while operating within un- with the type of gas and electrode wires. When CAD/
structured environments (Pires et al. 2006). Figure 2 CAM or other offline programming is used, a robot weld
shows the major components of a robotic arc welding pre-program is available and placed online. Consequently,
system (Cary and Helzer 2005). the robotic program might only need minor tuning for
The following sections briefly discuss some of the key calibration, which can be easily done by the weld operator
aspects of robotics in welding technology. performing selected online simulations of the process.

Fig. 2 Robotic arc welding system (Cary and Helzer 2005)

Kah et al. International Journal of Mechanical and Materials Engineering (2015) 10:13 Page 3 of 16

Robotic programming modes

Different methods exist for teaching or programming a
robot controller; namely, manual methods, online
programming (walk-through, lead-through), and offline
programming. Manual methods are primarily used for
pick-and-place robots and are not used for arc welding
robots (Cary and Helzer 2005).

Online programming This category of robotic program-

ming includes lead-through and walk-through program-
ming. Use of the manual online programming method
requires no special hardware or software on-site other
than that which is used for the manufacturing process.
The major drawback of online programming is that it is
quite inflexible and it is only able to control simple robot
paths (Pan et al. 2012a). In the walk-through method, the
operator moves the torch manually through the desired
sequence of movements, which are recorded into the
memory for playback during welding. The walk-through
method was adopted in a few early welding robots
(Cary and Helzer 2005) but did not gain widespread use.
The conventional method for programming welding ro-
bots is online programming with the help of a teach pen-
dant, i.e., lead-through programming. In this approach,
the programmer jogs the robot to the desired position
with the use of control keys on the teaching pendant and
the desired position and sequence of motions are re-
corded. The main disadvantage of the online teaching
method is that the programming of the robot causes
breaks in production during the programming phase
(McWhirter 2012).
The teach and playback mode has limited flexibility as
it is unable to adapt to the many problems that might be
Fig. 3 Vertically articulated (revolute configuration) robot with five
encountered in the welding operation, for example, errors
revolute joints (Ross et al. 2010)
in pre-machining and fitting of the workpiece, and in-
process thermal distortion leading to change in gap size.
Thus, advanced applications of robotic welding require an
Welding phase Automatic equipment requires the same automatic control system that can adapt and adjust the
capabilities as manual welding, i.e., the system should be welding parameters and motion of the welding robots
capable of maintaining a torch orientation that follows (Hongyuan et al. 2009). Hongyuan et al. (2009) developed
the desired trajectory (which may be different from a closed loop control system for robots that used teach
planned), performing seam tracking, and changing weld and playback based on real-time vision sensing for sensing
parameters in real time, thus emulating the adaptive topside width of the weld pool and seam gap to control
behavior of manual welders. weld formation in gas tungsten arc welding with gap
variation in multi-pass welding. In spite of all the above-
mentioned drawbacks, online programming is still the
only programming choice for most small to median enter-
Analysis phase The analysis phase is generally a post- prises (SMEs). Online programming methods using more
welding phase where the welding operator examines intuitive human-machine interfaces (HMI) and sensors in-
the obtained weld to ascertain if it is acceptable or formation have been proposed by several institutions
whether changes are required in the previous two (Zhang et al. 2006; Sugita et al. 2003). The assisted online
phases. Use of advanced sensors, such as 3D laser cam- programming can be categorized into assisted online pro-
eras, enables execution of this phase online during the gramming and sensor-guided online programming. Al-
welding phase. though dramatic progress has been carried out to make
Kah et al. International Journal of Mechanical and Materials Engineering (2015) 10:13 Page 4 of 16

online programming more intuitive, less reliant on oper- could do during his task execution. Therefore, the soft-
ator skill, and more automatic, most of the research ware developer must specify the categories of situation
outcomes are not commercially available aside from and provide the robot with sufficient intelligence and
Sugita et al. 2003. the ability to solve problems of any class of its program.
Sometimes, when situations are ambiguous and uncer-
Offline programming Offline programming (OLP) with tain, the robot must be able to evaluate different possible
simulation software allows programming of the welding actions. If the robot’s environment does not change, the
path and operation sequence from a computer rather than robot is given a model of its environment so that it can
from the robot itself. 3D CAD models of the workpieces, predict the outcome of his actions. But if the environ-
robots, and fixtures used in the cell are required for OLP. ment changes, the robot should learn. This is among
The simulation software matches these 3D CAD models, other prerequisites, which calls for the development and
permitting programming of the robot’s welding trajectory embedding in robots’ system of artificial intelligence (AI)
from a computer instead of a teaching pendant in the capable of learning, reasoning, and problem solving
welding cell as in online programming. After simulation (Tzafestas and Verbruggen 1995).
and testing of the program, the instructions can be The most welding robots serving in practical production
exported from the computer to the robot controller via an still are the teaching and playback type and cannot well
Ethernet communication network. Ongoing research sug- meet quality and diversification requirements of welding
gests, however, that the use of sensing technology would production because these types of robots do not have the
make it feasible to completely program the final trajectory automatic functions to adapt circumstance changes and un-
only with OLP (Miller Electric Mfg Co. 2013). Pan et al. certain disturbances (errors of pre-machining and fitting
(2012a) developed an automated offline programming workpiece, heat conduction, dispersion during welding
method with software that allows automatic planning and process) during welding process (Tarn et al. 2004; Tarn
programming (with CAD models as input) for a robotic et al. 2007). In order to overcome or restrict different un-
welding system with high degrees of freedom without any certainty which influences the quality of the weld, it would
programming effort. The main advantages of OLP are its be an effective approach to develop and improve the intelli-
reusable code, flexibility for modification, ability to gener- gent technology of welding robots such as vision sensing,
ate complex paths, and reduction in production downtime multi-sensing for welding robots, recognition of welded en-
in the programming phase for setup of a new part. Never- vironment, self-guiding and seam-tracking, and intelligent
theless, OLP is mostly used to generate complex robot real-time control procedures for welding robots. To this
paths for large production volumes because the time and end, the development of an intelligence technology to
cost required to generate code for complex robotic systems improve the current method of learning and use for
is similar to if not greater than with online programming playback programming for welding robots is essential to
(Pan et al. 2012a). Currently, for a complex manufacturing achieve high quality and flexibility expected of welded
process with small to median production volume, very few products (Chen and Wu 2008; Chen 2007).
robotic automation solution are used to replace manual Intelligent robots are expected to take an active role in
production due to this expensive and time-consuming pro- the joining job, which comprises as large a part of the ma-
gramming overhead. Although OLP has the abovemen- chine industry as the machining job. The intelligent robot
tioned advantages, it is not popular for small to median can perform highly accurate assembly jobs, picking up a
enterprise (SME) users due to its obvious drawbacks. It is workpiece from randomly piled workpieces on a tray, as-
difficult to economically justify an OLP for smaller product sembling it with fitting precision of 10 μm or less clear-
values due to the high cost of the OLP package and pro- ance with its force sensors, and high-speed resistant spot
gramming overhead required to customize the software for arc welding in automotive welding and painting. However,
a specific application. Development of customized software the industrial intelligent robots still have tasks in which
for offline programming is time-consuming and requires they cannot compete with skilled workers, though they
high-level programming skills. Typically, these skills are have a high level of skills, as has been explained so far.
not available from the process engineers and operators Such as assembling flexible objects like a wire harness,
who often perform the robot programming in-process there are several ongoing research and development activ-
today. As OLP methods rely accurate modeling of the ities in the world to solve these challenges (Nof 2009).
robot and work cell, additional calibration procedures
using extra sensors are in many cases inevitable to meet re-
quirements (Pan et al. 2012b). Problems in robotic welding
Despite the benefits from using robotic systems, associ-
Intelligent robot It is very difficult and even impossible ated problems require due consideration. Issues include
to anticipate and identify all situations that the robot the following:
Kah et al. International Journal of Mechanical and Materials Engineering (2015) 10:13 Page 5 of 16

 The consistency required for making part after part, used for weld inspection of defects and quality evalu-
which, in the absence of proper control, might ation (Pires et al. 2006). The ideal sensor for robot ap-
fluctuate due to poor fixturing or variations in the plication should measure the welding point (avoidance
metal forming process. of tracking misalignment), should detect in advance
 In the case of low to medium volume manufacturing (finding the start point of the seam, recognizing cor-
or repair work, the time and effort taken to program ners, avoiding collisions), and should be as small as
the robot to weld a new part can be quite high possible (no restriction in accessibility). The ideal sen-
(Dinham and Fang 2013). sors, which combine all three requirements, do not
 Robotic welding requires proper joint design, exist; therefore, one must select a sensor which is suit-
consistent gap conditions and gap tolerance not able for the individual welding job (Bolmsjö and Olsson
exceeding 0.5 to 1 mm. Variation in gap condition 2005). Sensors that measure geometrical parameters are
requires the use of sensing technologies for gap mainly used to provide the robot with seam-tracking
filling (Robot et al. 2013b). capability and/or search capability, allowing the path of
 Automation of welding by robotic systems has high the robot to be adapted according to geometrical devia-
initial cost, so accurate calculation of return on tions from the nominal path. Technological sensors
investment (ROI) is essential (Rochelle 2010). measure parameters within the welding process for its
 Possible shortages of skilled welders with the stability and are mostly used for monitoring and/or
requisite knowledge and training pose limitations. controlling purposes (Pires et al. 2006). Table 1 pre-
 Unlike adaptive human behavior, robots cannot sents different sensor applications, and summarized ad-
independently make autonomous corrective vantages, and drawbacks for a specific time during
decisions and have to be supplemented by the use of welding operation.
sensors and a robust control system for decision- Contact-type sensors, like nozzle or finger, are less
making. expensive and easier to use than a non-contact. How-
 Robotic welding cannot easily be performed in some ever, this type of sensors cannot be used for butt joints
areas like pressure vessels, interior tanks, and ship and thin lap joints. Non-contact sensors referred as
bodies due to workspace constraints (Robotics Bible through-the-arc sensors may be used for tee joints, U
2011). and V grooves, or lap joints over a certain thickness.
 The majority of sensor-based intelligent systems These types of sensors are appropriate for welding of
available in the market are not tightly integrated bigger pieces with weaving when penetration control is
with the robot controller, which limits the perform- not necessary. However, it is not applicable to materials
ance of the robotic system as most industrial robots with high reflectivity such as aluminum. Great attention
only offer around a 20-Hz feedback loop through has been paid to joint sensing by welding personnel
the programming interface. Consequently, the since the 1980s. The principal types of industrial arc-
robot cannot respond to the sensor information welding sensors that have been employed are optical
quickly, resulting in sluggish and sometimes un- and arc sensors (Nomura et al. 1986). Some of the most
stable performance. important uses of sensors in robotic welding are
discussed below:
Sensors in robotic welding
Need for sensors in robotic welding Seam finding Seam finding (or joint finding) is a
At present, welding robots are predominantly found in process in which the seam is located using one or more
automatic manufacturing processes, most of which use searches to make sure that the weld bead is precisely de-
teach and playback robots that require a great deal of posited in the joint. Seam finding is done by adjusting
time for training and path planning, etc. Furthermore, the robotic manipulator and weld torch to the right pos-
teaching and programming needs to be repeated if the ition and orientation in relation to the welding groove or
dimensions of the weld workpieces are changed, as they by adjusting the machine program, prior to welding
cannot self-rectify during the welding process. The (Servo Robot Inc 2013a). Many robotic applications,
seam position in particular is often disturbed in prac- especially in the auto industry, involve producing a series
tice due to various problems. The use of sensors is a of short and repeated welds for which real-time tracking
way to address these problems in automated robotic is not required; however, it is necessary to begin each
welding processes (Xu et al. 2012). The main use of weld in the correct place, which necessitates the use of
sensors in robotic welding is to detect and measure seam-finding sensors (Meta Vision Systems Ltd 2006).
process features and parameters, such as joint geom-
etry, weld pool geometry and location, and online con- Seam tracking Seam tracking enables the welding torch
trol of the welding process. Sensors are additionally to follow automatically the weld seam groove and adjust
Kah et al. International Journal of Mechanical and Materials Engineering (2015) 10:13 Page 6 of 16

Table 1 Applications and quality of sensors

Operation Type of Advantages Drawbacks
time sensors
Sensing Touch Can recognize 3-dimensional offset of the workpiece. The Can defect elastically, using tactile probes it is difficult, if
independent sensing wire tip or the gas nozzle can serve as a sensor. Can be not impossible, to provide information on the joint fit up.
used for accurate learning of the path before welding. Poor weld joint repeatability.
Preview Contact Relatively low cost. The mechanically probes leads the Not adaptable to suit a variety of joint geometries.
sensing sensing welding spots.
Inductive Largely used in industry, configurations with one pick-up Different sensor is needed for each type of joint, should
sensing coil can provide a cross-seam or vertical path correction stay very close to the joint
signal.
Capacitive Offer the opportunity to measure the distance between the It is hard to extract a correction signal in two direction
sensing workpiece and an electrically conduction plate of small from the capacity variations
dimension.
Acoustical Apart from seam-tracking application, an acoustical sensing Line of sight must not deviate from the surface normal;
sensing system can be used to explore the workpiece for obstacle another limitation is the temperature dependence of the
and maybe to inspect a produced weld. speed of the sound.
Optical Can be used for seam tracking as well as for geometrical To prevent accessibility limitation, it may require additional
sensing recognition of the weld pool, to adapt process parameters axes for seam tracking, tremendous effort to introduce
in the case of possible deviations. technical integration, regularly check the lens protection.
On-the-spot Weld pool Dedicated to welding pool geometry and properties. The There should be a clear interpretation of the image by the
sensing observation obtained image is processed and pattern recognition system, in order to give torch corrective changes
algorithms are used to extract the dimensions and form of accordingly
the weld pool. Different sensors can be applied: optic
sensing, thermal sensing, real-time radiography, weld pool
oscillation sensing,
Through- No additional voluminous sensor needs to be fixed to the The torch has to be weaved during welding. The
the-arc weld torch. Its simple operation and implementation have dimension of the joint must exceed some critical
sensing made arc sensing a commonly accepted off-the-shelf dimension, e.g., it is not applicable for sheet metal. In
technique. addition, a signal can be obtained only after the arc has
been established. Therefore, it cannot be used for finding
starting point of the weld.

the robotic manipulator accordingly; to counter the conduct bead placement and seam tracking, and ensure
effects of variation in the seam caused by distortion, un- proper joint fill (Cary and Helzer 2005). Use of sensors
even heat transfer, variability of gap size, staggered edges, allows adaptive control for real-time control and adjust-
etc. (Xu et al. 2012). ment of process parameters such as welding current and
Reliable seam-tracking sensors provide the following voltage. For example, the capabilities of sensors in seam
advantages (Björkelund 1987): finding, identification of joint penetration and joint fill-
ing, and ensuring root penetration and acceptable weld
 Automatic vertical and horizontal correction of the bead shape mean that corrective modification of relevant
path (even path changes necessitated by thermal welding parameters is done such that constant weld
distortion) quality is maintained (Cary and Helzer 2005; Drews and
 Less stringent accuracy demands on objects and Starke 1986). An adaptive welding robot should have the
fixtures capabilities to address two main aspects. The first aspect
 Welding parameter adaptation is the control of the end effector’s path and orientation
 Reduced programming time so that the robot is able to track the joint to be welded
 Lower rejection rates with high precision. The second one is the control of
 Higher welding quality welding process variables in real time, for example,
 Viability of short series the control of the amount of metal deposition into the
joint as per the dimensions of the gap separating the
Adaptive control In adaptive control welding, i.e., a parts to be welded.
closed loop system using feedback-sensing devices and Chen et al. (2007) studied the use of laser vision sensing
adaptive control, there is a process control system that for adaptive welding of an aluminum alloy in which the
detects changes in welding conditions automatically with wire feed speed and the welding current are adjusted auto-
the aid of sensors and directs the equipment to take matically as per the groove conditions. The sensor was used
appropriate action. Sensors are needed in adaptive con- to precisely measure the weld groove and for automatic
trol welding to find the joint, assess root penetration, seam tracking involving automatic torch traverse alignment
Kah et al. International Journal of Mechanical and Materials Engineering (2015) 10:13 Page 7 of 16

and torch height adjustment during welding. An adaptive vision, magnetic detection, and eddy current and acoustic
software was employed that calculated the wire feed rate measurements (Abdullah et al. 2013).
according to the variation in the gap and the weld area. Quinn et al. (1999) developed a method for detection
The software included extraction of groove geometry, cal- of flaws in automatic constant-voltage gas metal arc
culation and filtering, querying of the adaptive table (ADAP welding (GMAW) using the process current and voltage
table as shown in Table 2), and generation of the control signals. They used seven defect detection algorithms to
output signal. process the current and voltage signals to get quality pa-
Figure 4 shows the control flow module for adaptive rameters and flag welds that were different from the
control of weld parameters for the system. baseline record of previously made defect-free welds.
The process of adaptive control consisted of calcula- The system could effectively sense melt-through, loss of
tion of groove area from geometry data transmitted from shielding gas, and oily parts that cause surface and sub-
the image processing module, followed by filtering of the surface porosity.
calculated area data to remove invalid data and noise. Figure 5 shows an example of a visual weld inspection
Next, the module queried the ADAP table to get the system (VIROwsi from Vitronic GmbH) consisting of a
proper welding parameters, i.e., weld current and wire camera-based sensor, computing unit, and software having
feed rate. The corresponding values of analog signals the capability of fully automated three-dimensional
were then transmitted to control the power source and seam inspection with combined 2D and 3D machine
the wire feeder (Chen et al. 2007). vision. It can detect all the relevant defects and their
position in real time. These informations can be stored
for later follow-up, documentation, and statistical
Quality monitoring Use of automatic weld quality moni- evaluation (VITRONIC 2010).
toring systems results in reduced production costs Figure 6 shows an example of a weld inspection sen-
through the reduced manpower required for inspection. sor based on a scanning thermal profile called
An automatic detection system for welding should be able ThermoProfilScanner (TPS), from HKS Prozesstechnik
to classify weld defects like porosity, metal spatter, irregu- GmbH, for evaluation of weld quality and misalign-
lar bead shape, excessive root reinforcement, incomplete ment of welds during cooling. As the characteristics of
penetrations and burn-through. Most commercial moni- the thermal profile (symmetry, width of a thermal
toring systems work in a similar way: voltage, current, and zone, maximum temperature, etc.) and the seam quality
other process signals are measured and compared with are directly correlated, seam abnormalities like insufficient
preset nominal values. An alarm is triggered when any weld penetration, weld seam offset, holes, lack of fusion,
difference from the preset values exceeds a given etc. can be detected by TPS. Correlations between thermal
threshold. The alarm thresholds are correlated with real profile and weld quality from previous experience can be
weld defects or relate to specifications defined in the weld- used to compare the desired values and tolerances. When
ing procedure specification (WPS) (Pires et al. 2006). tolerance limits are exceeded, warning signals are pro-
Currently, common nondestructive testing methods for duced marking the defective points and the weld process
inspection of weld bead include radiography, ultrasonic, can be stopped (HKS Prozesstechnik 2013).

Table 2 Adaptive welding parameters table (ADAP table)

Seam-tracking and seam-finding sensors
(Chen et al. 2007)
Several sensors for robotic welding, mainly for seam
Groove area Wire feeder control Wire feeding rate Welding
[mm2] signal [V] [cm.min−1] current [A] tracking and quality control, are commercially available.
10 2.2 81.7 340
Some of the more renowned sensor products in the field
of robotic welding are discussed below:
14 2.3 87.8 342
18 2.4 93.9 344
Robo-Find (Servo Robot Inc)
22 2.5 100.0 346
The sensor in the Robo-Find system for seam finding in
26 2.6 106.1 348
robotic welding is based on a laser vision system. Robo-
30 2.7 112.2 350 Find provides a solution for offline seam-finding applica-
34 2.8 118.4 352 tions where parts and/or features must first be located
38 2.9 124.5 354 when modifying the tool path. It locates, detects, and mea-
42 3.0 130.6 356 sures weld joints without any contact with the part and
46 3.1 136.7 358
then signals the robot to adjust torch trajectory in less than
1 s. Some of the features and benefits of Robo-Find (Servo
50 3.2 142.8 360
Robot Inc) are listed below (Servo Robot Inc 2013a):
Kah et al. International Journal of Mechanical and Materials Engineering (2015) 10:13 Page 8 of 16

Fig. 4 Diagram of welding parameter adaptive control (Chen et al. 2007)

 It is immune to arc process like spatter and can during the welding process. Some of the features and
withstand radiated heat. benefits as mentioned by the manufacturer are as fol-
 It can find seams for all weldable materials. lows (Pires et al. 2006):
 It has an embedded color video camera for remote
monitoring and programming. 1. It is a fully integrated system complete with laser
 It has the ability to recognize joint type camera, control unit, and software.
automatically. 2. It offers automatic joint tracking and real-time
 It reduces repair and rework. trajectory control of the welding torch.
 It can be retrofitted to existing equipment. 3. There is an option for an inspection module for
 It employs smart camera technology with embedded quality control of the welds.
control unit (no separate controller with everything 4. It is immune to the arc process like spatter and can
inside the camera itself ) such that setup can be withstand radiated heat.
done with a simple laptop interface. 5. The system is unaffected by ambient lighting
conditions and can track all weldable materials.
Robo-Find is available with one of two types of laser 6. The system offers true 3D laser measurements of
camera, based either on a point laser sensor or on a joint geometry dimensions.
line laser sensor system. Figure 7 shows the Robo-Find 7. The high-speed digital laser sensor makes fast and
SF/D-HE system, which is based on a line laser system, reliable joint recognition possible.
and the SENSE-I/D-V system, based on a point laser. 8. The system is suitable for high-speed welding pro-
An approximate comparison of the time requirement cesses like tandem gas metal arc welding and laser
between the laser-based vision sensor and a mechanical hybrid welding.
tactile sensor for seam finding and welding is shown in 9. The system has a direct interface with most brands
Fig. 8. of robot by advanced communication protocol on a
serial or Ethernet link.
Power-Trac (Servo Robot Inc) This sensor has the 10.A large joint library is included, which allows almost
capability of real-time seam tracking and offline seam any weld seam on any weldable material to be
finding based on a laser vision system. The trajectory of tracked and measured geometrically.
the torch is modified continuously to compensate for 11.The adaptive welding module can adjust for joint
real-time changes such as warping caused by heat input geometry variability for optimization of the size of
the weld and thus elimination of defects and
reduced over-weld.

Figure 9 shows robotic arc welding in conjunction

with the Power-Trac system for seam finding and track-
ing (Servo Robot Inc 2013b).

Laser Pilot (Meta Vision Systems Ltd.) This sensor

featuring laser vision enables sensing of the actual
parts to be welded for seam finding and seam tracking.
It corrects part positioning errors as well as errors due
to thermal distortion during the welding process.
Some of the variants of the Laser Pilot system are de-
scribed below:

 Laser Pilot MTF

Fig. 5 Three-dimensional weld seam inspection by VIROwsi
Laser Pilot MTF is a seam finder and can be used in
(VITRONIC 2010)
robotic welding applications which involve a series
Kah et al. International Journal of Mechanical and Materials Engineering (2015) 10:13 Page 9 of 16

Fig. 6 Measurement of thermal field of seam during cooling of a weld setup of TPS (a), a faulty weld (b), and an abnormal thermal profile (c) of
the faulty weld (HKS Prozesstechnik 2013)

of short welds, as commonly found in the  Laser Pilot MTR

automotive industry, that do not require real-time Laser Pilot MTR is a seam tracker and available with
tracking, although correct placement of the weld interfacing with various leading robot manufacturers’
torch in the beginning of the weld is needed. MTF products. In addition to the seam-finding function,
uses a standard interface for communication to the it can track seams in real time while welding
robot controller. (Meta Vision Systems Ltd 2006).

Fig. 7 a Line laser-based sensor Robo-Find SF/D-HE and b point laser-based sensor Robo-Find SENSE-I/D-V (Servo Robot Inc 2013a)
Kah et al. International Journal of Mechanical and Materials Engineering (2015) 10:13 Page 10 of 16

Fig. 8 Comparison between laser vision and tactile sensing system for seam finding and welding (Servo Robot Inc 2013a)

Circular Scanning System Weld-Sensor The Circular

Scanning System (CSS) Weld-Sensor (Oxford Sensor
Technology Ltd.) consists of a low-power laser diode that
projects a laser beam through an off-axis lens onto the
surface being analyzed, as shown in Fig. 10. A linear CCD
detector views the spot through the same off-axis lens.
The distance between the CSS Weld-Sensor and the
surface to be measured is calculated based on a
triangulation method. An inbuilt motor rotates the
off-axis lens, causing the laser spot to be rotated and
forming a conical scan (Mortimer 2006). The circular
scanning technology enables measurement of 3D
shaped corners in a single measurement and has the
advantage of an increased detection ratio compared to
other sensors (Bergkvist 2004). The CSS Weld-Sensor
can also be used with highly reflective materials such
as aluminum (Mortimer 2006).
A manufacturing system designed by Thyssen-Krupp-
Drauz-Nothelfer (TKDN) with integrated CSS Weld-
Sensor in conjunction with a MIG welding torch and an
ABB 2400–16 robot was used in welding of the aluminum
C-pillar to the aluminum roof section of Jaguar’s sports car
XK, as shown in Fig. 11. This welding has importance as
regards both esthetics and strength because the sec-
tion is at eye level and there should not be any visible
external joints and defects. The sensor reads the
seam’s position, width, depth, and orientation. There
are some six or eight measurements involved in the
welding process and each measurement takes less than
400 ms. The system employed one CSS Weld-Sensor
Fig. 9 Robotic arc welding with Power-Trac (Servo Robot Inc 2013b)
to measure the true position of the seam prior to
Kah et al. International Journal of Mechanical and Materials Engineering (2015) 10:13 Page 11 of 16

Fig. 10 Arrangement of parts with an off-center lens in CSS (Braggins 1998)

welding, allowing optimization of the programmed as shown in Fig. 12a. Centerline mode is used with
weld path by automatic correction for component tol- weaving, where the impedance is measured as the torch
erances and fit-up variation (Nomura et al. 1986). moves from side-to-side using the bias parameter, as il-
lustrated in Fig. 12b (ABB Group 2010).
ABB Weldguide III Weldguide III is a through-the-arc In adaptive fill mode, a type of advanced tracking
seam-tracking sensor developed by ABB that uses two mode, the robot can identify and adjust for variations
external sensors for the welding current and arc voltage. in joint tolerances. If the joint changes in width, the
It has a measurement capacity at 25,000 Hz for quick robot’s weave will increase or decrease and travel speed
and accurate path corrections and can be integrated with is adjusted accordingly as shown in Fig. 13.
various transfer modes, like spray-arc, short-arc, and For multi-pass welding, Weldguide III tracks the first
pulsed-arc GMAW. pass and stores the actual tracked path so that it can
Weldguide III has basic, advanced, and multi-pass offset for subsequent passes, as shown in Fig. 14.
modes of tracking. The basic tracking modes consist of
either torch-to-work mode or centerline mode. In torch- A practical case: MARWIN
to-work mode, height is sensed, and in fixed torch-to- Targeted problem
work, distance is maintained by measuring the target Currently available welding technologies such as manual
current and adjusting the height to maintain the setting, welding and welding robots have several drawbacks.

Fig. 11 ABB 2400–16 robot with MIG welding torch and the OST CSS Weld-Sensor mounted at the end of the arm (HKS Prozesstechnik 2013)
Kah et al. International Journal of Mechanical and Materials Engineering (2015) 10:13 Page 12 of 16

Fig. 12 a Torch to work mode and b centerline mode (ABB Group 2010)

Manual welding is time-consuming, while existing robot modeled work cell (TWI Ltd 2012). Figure 15 shows
are not efficient enough for manufacturing small batch- the overall process diagram for the MARWIN system.
sized products but they also often face discrepancies
when reprogramming is necessary. This reprogramming Programming
is also extremely time-consuming. The MARWIN system consists of a control computer
A project named MARWIN, a part of the European with a user interface and controls for the vision system
Research Agency FP7 project framework, was initiated and the welding robot. The new methodology for robotic
in November 2011 (CORDIS 2015). Its aim was to de- offline programming (OLP) addressing the issue of auto-
velop a vision-based welding robot suitable for small- matic program generation directly from 3D CAD models
and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) with automatic and verification through online 3D reconstruction. The
track calculation, welding parameter selection, and an vision system is capable of reconstructing a 3D image of
embedded quality control system (Chen et al. 2007). parts using structured light and pattern recognition,
MARWIN can extract welding parameters and calcu- which is then compared to a CAD drawing of the real
late the trajectory of the end effector directly from the assembly. It extracts welding parameters and calculates
CAD models, which are then verified by real-time 3D robot trajectories directly from CAD models which are
scanning and registration (Rodrigues et al. 2013a). The then verified by real-time 3D scanning and registration.
main problem for SMEs trying to use robotic welding is The computer establishes the best robotic trajectory
that products are changed after small batches and the based on the user input. Automatic adjustments to the
extensive reprogramming necessary is expensive and trajectory are done from the reconstructed image. The
time-consuming. Limitations of current OLP include welding parameters are automatically chosen from an in-
manufacturing tolerances between CAD and work- built database of weld procedures (TWI Ltd 2012). The
pieces and inaccuracies in workpiece placement and user’s role is limited to high-level specification of the
welding task and confirmation and/or modification of
weld parameters and sequences as suggested by
MARWIN (Rodrigues et al. 2013a). The MARWIN con-
cept is illustrated in Fig. 16.

Sensing
The vision system in MARWIN is based on a structured
light scanning method. As shown in Fig. 17, multiple
planes of light of known pattern are projected onto the
target surface, which is recorded by a camera. The
spatial relationship between the light source and the
camera is then combined with the shape of the captured
pattern to get the 3D position of the surface along the
pattern. The advantages of such system are that both
camera and projector can be placed as close together as
practically possible which may offer advantages to design
miniaturization. Moreover, the mathematical formula-
Fig. 13 Adaptive fill mode (ABB Group 2010)
tion of such arrangement is simple than those of
Kah et al. International Journal of Mechanical and Materials Engineering (2015) 10:13 Page 13 of 16

Fig. 14 Multi-pass welding by Weldguide III (ABB Group 2010)

standard scanners which results in less computing Continuous development in the field of robotics, sen-
cycles, thus, making the parallel design more appropriate sors, and control means that robotic welding has
for 3D real-time processing (Rodrigues et al. 2013a). reached the third-generation stage in which a system
can operate in real-time and can learn rapid changes in
Results the geometry of the seam while operating in unstruc-
The parallel arrangement requires 35 % fewer arithmetic tured environments.
operations to compute a point cloud in 3D being thus Of the programming methods commonly used with
more appropriate for real-time applications. Experiments welding robots, conventional online programming with a
show that the technique is appropriate to scan a variety of teach pendant, i.e., lead-through programming, has the
surfaces and, in particular, the intended metallic parts for disadvantage of causing breaks in production during
robotic welding tasks (Rodrigues et al. 2013b). The programming. Furthermore, it is only able to control
method allows the robot to adjust the welding path de- simple robot paths. Offline programming, due to its
signed from the CAD model to the actual workpiece. reusable code, flexibility of modification, and ability to
Alternatively, for non-repetitive tasks and where a CAD generate complex paths, offers the benefit of a reduction
model is not available, it is possible to interactively define in production downtime in the programming phase for
the path online over the scanned surface (Rodrigues et al. setup of new parts and supports autonomous robotic
2013c). welding with a library of programming codes for weld
parameters and trajectories for different 3D CAD
Conclusions models of workpieces.
Robotics and sensors, together with their associated Despite the advantages of sensor-based robotic weld sys-
control systems have become important elements in in- tems, there are some issues associated with robotic weld-
dustrial manufacturing. They offer several advantages, ing that need to be addressed to ensure proper selection
such as improved weld quality, increased productivity, based on work requirements and the work environment.
reduced weld costs, increased repeatable consistency A variety of sensors are used in robotic welding for
of welding, and minimized human input for selection detection and measurement of various process fea-
of weld parameters, path of robotic motion, and fault tures and parameters, like joint geometry, weld pool
detection and correction. geometry, location, etc., and for online control of the

Fig. 15 MARWIN system process diagram (TWI Ltd. 2012)

Kah et al. International Journal of Mechanical and Materials Engineering (2015) 10:13 Page 14 of 16

Fig. 16 MARWIN concept (TWI Ltd. 2012)

weld process. The primary objectives of these sensors, is rather inexpensive in comparison with an optical seam
along with the control system, are seam finding, seam tracker. The principal types of industrial arc-welding
tracking, adaptive control, and quality monitoring of sensors that have been employed are optical and arc
welds. sensors. If the arc sensing has been dominant till the
The use of sensors is not new in this field, and sensors 1980s, the trend nowadays is focused on optical im-
have successfully been used for seam tracking for more provement for intelligent programming as well as intelli-
than 20 years in robotic arc welding. Basically, two dif- gent sensors.
ferent principles are used, through-arc sensing and op- Many sensors for seam tracking and seam finding are
tical sensors. Through-arc sensing uses the arc itself and available in the market. The nature of the work defines
requires a small weaving motion of the weld torch. Op- the suitability of a particular type of sensor. However,
tical sensors are often based on a scanning laser light due to an acceptable level of accuracy and reasonable
and triangulation to measure the distance to the weld cost, vision-based sensors are mostly used for seam
joint. Both methods have some characteristic features tracking in most robotic weld applications, apart from
that make them more suitable in certain situations. It through-the-arc sensing.
should be noted that the through-arc sensing technique The research-based project MARWIN presented a semi-
autonomous robotic weld system in which vision sensors
scan the work piece assembly in 3D using structured light,
which is compared to the CAD drawing to calculate the
robot trajectory and weld parameters from an inbuilt data-
base. This approach eliminates the necessity of tedious pro-
gramming for robotic and welding parameters for each
individual work part and the role of the user is limited to
high-level specification of the welding task and confirm-
ation and/or modification if required. SMEs with small pro-
duction volumes and varied workpieces stand to benefit
greatly from such semi-autonomous robotic welding.
Until recently, most robot programs were only taught
through the robot teach pendant, which required the
robot system to be out of production. Now, programmers
are using offline program tools to teach the robot move-
ments. After transferring the program to the robot con-
troller, they use the robot teach pendant to refine the
Fig. 17 Structured light scanning method (Rodrigues et al. 2013a)
program positions. This greatly improves the productivity
Kah et al. International Journal of Mechanical and Materials Engineering (2015) 10:13 Page 15 of 16

of the robot system. But still, calibration is needed be- Myhr, M. (1999). “Industrial new trends: ABB view of the future”, in International
tween the model and the real work cell. The trend is the Workshop on Industrial Robotics. Lisbon: New Trends and Perspectives.
Nof, SY. (2009). Springer handbook of automation (pp. 349–363). London: Springer
development of more intelligent programming, by use of Dordrech Heidelberg.
sensors with the ability to scan the workpiece and working Nomura, H, Sugitani, Y and Suzuki, Y. (1986). Automatic control of arc welding by
environment with high accuracy. arc sensors system, NKK Technical Report, Overseas No 47.
Pires, JN, Loureiro, A, & Bölmsjo, G. (2006a). Welding robots: technology. London:
Competing interests System Issue and Application. Springer-Verlag. p. 74.
The authors declare that they have no competing interests. Miller Electric Mfg Co., “Offline programming and simulation in robotic welding
applications speeds up programming time, reduces robot downtime,” 2013.
[Online]. Available: http://www.millerwelds.com/resources/articles/offline-
Authors’ contributions
programming-simulation-automated-robotic-welding-automation-Miller-
All the authors have drafted the manuscript. All authors read, analyzed, and
welding-automation-DTPS. [Accessed 2 April 2013].
approved the final manuscript.
Pan, Z, Polden, J, Larkin, N, Duin, SV, & Norrish, J. (2012a). "Automated Offline
Received: 20 March 2014 Accepted: 24 April 2014 Programming for Robotic Welding System with High Degree of Freedoms," in
Advances in Computer, Communication, Control and Automation
(Vol. 121, pp. 685–692). Berlin: Springer Berlin Heidelberg.
Pan, Z, Polden, J, Larkin, N, Van Duin, S, & Norrish, J. (2012b). “Recent
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