Giorgos Nikoleris

Task planning for welding applications

Welding robots that use sensors to compensate for variations in their environment pose new requirements for programming systems and for controller architectures. Tracking sensors must be programmed with the geometry of the welds and the motions of the robot. The process monitoring system must be programmed with the required process tolerances and the type of weld. Finally, the controller must be programmed with the motion parameters, velocity and end-pose. Task planning for welding applications is the specification of the geometrical and the technological parameters that are necessary to the above subsystems. The architecture of the controller also must be process-related to allow the flow of planning information to the different subsystems and the necessary feedback to the planning level. Data from the sensors must be used with path data, process information and the geometry of the welds to adjust the process in real time. This article describes the requirements of process-related programming and real-time control of industrial robots based on sensor data.<<ETX>>

Graphical Robot Programming: Requirements and Existing Systems

The use of a graphical system for the programming of industrial robots offers a number of advantages. Graphical systems employ an interface that is much easier to use. The resulting motion trajectories can be simulated and tested for collisions or singular points. Contemporary graphical systems use the geometry of the objects that are to be handled or processed in order to generate robot motion trajectories. Robot motions are however constrained by the process requirements which should be one of the main sources of the generation of robot motion trajectories. In this article the methodology of the generation of the robot motion trajectories in three commercial systems is examined as well as the requirements of process-related robot programming with special emphasis on high-quality arc welding.