TABLE OF CONTENT

No Description Page
.
1. Introduction 2
2. Automation of Welding 6
3. Robotic Welding Concept 9

4. Arc Motion Device 11

5. Work Motion Device 19
6. Arc Welding Robots 20

7. Control For Automatic Arc Welding 23

8. Gesture-based Programming for Robotic Arc Welding 28

9. Robotic sensor 34
10 TCP-Calibration Unit (Tool Center Point) 35
.
References

1. INTRODUCTION

Robotics Terminology

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a) Robot:

A robot is a mechanical or virtual artificial agent. In practice, it is

usually an electro-mechanical system which, by its appearance or
movements, conveys a sense that it has intent or agency of its own.
The word robot can refer to both physical robots and virtual software
agents, but the latter are usually referred to as bots. There is no
consensus on which machines qualify as robots, but there is general
agreement among experts and the public that robots tend to do some
or all of the following: move around, operate a mechanical arm, sense
and manipulate their environment, and exhibit intelligent behavior,
especially behavior which mimics humans or animals.

Figure 1: ASIMO, a humanoid robot manufactured by Honda

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 Figure 2: Kismet (robot) can produce a range of facial expressions.

b) Industrial robot:

The Robotics Industries Association (RIA) defines robot in the following

way:

“An industrial robot is a programmable, multi-functional

manipulator designed to move materials, parts, tools, or
special devices through variable programmed motions for the
performance of a variety of tasks”

c) Robotics:

Robotics is the science and technology of robots, and their design,

manufacture, and application. Robotics Engineers also study
electronics, mechanics and software.

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Robotic Welding

Robot welding is the use of mechanized programmable tools

(robots), which completely automate a welding process by both performing
the weld and handling the part. Processes such as gas metal arc welding,
while often automated, are not necessarily equivalent to robot welding, since
a human operator sometimes prepares the materials to be welded. Robot
welding is commonly used for resistance spot welding and arc welding in
high production applications, such as the automotive industry.

Robot welding is a relatively new application of robotics, even though

robots were first introduced into US industry during the 1960s. The use of
robots in welding did not take off until the 1980s, when the automotive
industry began using robots extensively for spot welding. Since then, both
the number of robots used in industry and the number of their applications
has grown greatly. Cary and Helzer suggest that, as of 2005, more than
120,000 robots are used in North American industry, about half of them
pertaining to welding. Growth is primarily limited by high equipment costs,
and the resulting restriction to high-production applications.

Robot arc welding has begun growing quickly just recently, and already
it commands about 20% of industrial robot applications. The major
components of arc welding robots are the manipulator or the mechanical unit
and the controller, which acts as the robot's "brain". The manipulator is what
makes the robot move, and the design of these systems can be categorized
into several common types, such as the SCARA robot and Cartesian
coordinate robot, which use different coordinate systems to direct the arms
of the machine.

The technology of signature image processing has been developed since the late
1990s for analyzing electrical data in real time collected from automated, robotic welding, thus
enabling the optimization of welds.

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 Figure 3: ABB Robot Arc Welding

Figure 4: German KUKA Industrial robots doing vehicle underbody assembly

Figure 5: Robotic arc welding

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2. Automation of Welding

Robot automation systems are rapidly taking the place of the human
work force. One of the benefits is that this change provides the human work
force with the time to spend on more creative tasks. The highest population
of robots is in spot welding, spray painting, material handling, and arc
welding. Spot welding and spray painting applications are mostly in the
automotive industry. However, arc welding and material handling have
applications in a broad range of industries, such as, automotive sub-
suppliers, furniture manufacturers, and agricultural machine manufacturers.

Automation of welding became possible and practical with the acceptance of

continuous electrode wire arc welding processes. The advantage of
automation welding is:

• Consistency of quality welds

• Repeatability
• Reduction of production costs
• Fewer scrapped parts
• Increase your return on investment (ROI)
• Faster cycle rates

The robotic welding automation commonly has five stations. It is:

a) Arc Welding

b) GMAW (Gas Metal Arc Welding)

c) GTAW (Gas Tungsten Arc Welding)

d) Laser Welding

e) Spot Welding

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Typically, an automatic or automated welding system consists of at least the
following:

1. Welding arc: requires a welding power source and its control, an

electrode wire feeder and its control, the welding gun assembly, and
necessary interfacing hardware.

2. Master controller: controls all functions of the system. It can be the

robot controller or a separate controller. It is the overall controller.

3. Arc motion device: can be the robot manipulator, a dedicated welding

machine, or a standardized welding machine. It may involve several
axes.

4. Work motion device: can be standardized device such as tilt-table

positioned, a rotating turntable, or dedicated fixture. It may involve
several axes.

5. Work holding fixture: must be customized or dedicated to

accommodate the specific weldment to be produced. It may be
mounted on the work motion device.

6. Welding program: requires the development of the welding procedure

and the software to operate the master controller to produce the
weldment.

7. Consumables: include the electrode wire or filler metal, the shielding

media (normally gas) and the possibly a tungsten electrode.

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Figure 6: Welding Torch

Figure 7: Power Source

Figure 8: Wire Feeder

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 Figure 9: Chiller

3. Robotic Welding Concept

Robot welding means welding that is performed and controlled by

robotic equipment. In general equipment for automatic arc welding is
designed differently from that used for manual arc welding. Automatic arc
welding normally involves high duty cycles, and the welding equipment must
be able to operate under those conditions. In addition, the equipment
components must have the necessary features and controls to interface with
the main control system. A special kind of electrical power is required to
make an arc weld. The special power is provided by a welding machine, also
known as a power source. The nozzle of the torch is close to the arc and will
gradually pick up spatter. A torch cleaner (normally automatic) is often used
in robot arc welding systems to remove the spatter. All of the continuous
electrode wire arc processes require an electrode feeder to feed the
consumable electrode wire into the arc.

Welding fixtures and workpiece manipulators hold and position parts to

ensure precise welding by the robot. The productivity of the robot welding
cell is speeded up by having an automatically rotating or switching fixture,
so that the operator can be fixing one set of parts while the robot is welding
another. To be able to guarantee that the electrode tip and the tool frame

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are accurately known with respect to each other, the calibration process of
TCP (Tool Center Point) is important. An automatic TCP calibration device
facilitates this time consuming task.

Figure 6: Typical Arc Welding Robot Station

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4. ARC MOTION DEVICES

Arc motion devices are required for mechanized welding. The machine
moves the arc, torch and welding head along the joint. The person or
operator performs a supervisory role and may make adjustments to guide
the arc, manipulate the torch and change parameters to overcome
deviations. Since the person is partially removed from the arc area, higher
currents and higher travel speeds can be used. The fatigue factor is reduced
and the operator factor is increased. Productivity increases with a resulting
reduction of welding costs. Arc motion devices fit into 5 categories:

1. Manipulator (boom and mast assembly)

2. Side beam carriages.
3. Gantry or straddle carriages.
4. Tractors for flat-position welding.
5. Carriages for all-position welding.

The arc motion devices carry the welding head and torch and provide travel
or motion relative to the weld. They are used for continuous wire processes,
gas metal arc, flux-cored arc and submerged arc welding and also for gas
tungsten and plasma arc welding. The motion device must be matched to
the welding process. Gas tungsten and plasma arc welding require more
accurate travel and speed regulation. This must be specified because tighter
tolerances are used in manufacturing and the equipment will be more
expensive.

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Manipulator

It consists of a vertical mast and a horizontal boom that carries the

welding head. They are sometimes referred to as boom and mast or column
and boom positioners. Manipulators are specified by two dimensions:

• The maximum height under the arc from the floor.

• Maximum reach of the arc from the mast.

They are many variations of manipulators. The assembly may be

mounted on a carriage that travels on rails secured to the shop floor. The
welding power source is usually mounted on the carriage. The length of
travel can be unlimited thus the same welding manipulator can be used for
different weldment by moving from one workstation to another. In selecting
and specifying a welding manipulator, it is important to determine the weight
to be carried on the end of the boom and how much deflection can be
allowed. The welding torch should move smoothly at travel speed rates
compatible with the welding process. The manipulator carriage must also
move smoothly at the same speed. Manipulators are one of the most
versatile pieces of welding equipment available. They can be used for
straight-line, longitudinal and transverse welds and for circular welds when a
rotating device is used. As the diagram below shows, axis 1 and 2 are
effectively a shoulder, axis 3 and 4 elbow and forearm and axis 5 and 6 are
the wrist of the robot.

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 Figure 7: Robot and manipulator movement

The 6 axis system allows the robot to have an expansive work envelope and
allows the tool on the end of the arm to be manipulated in almost anyway
within that envelope.

Other terms for this axis include degrees of freedom or DOF, joints or
axels. Most manufacturers number them 1 to 6 starting at the bottom of the
arm. However some manufacturers use letters for different axis.
The robot computer knows the position of the arm from feedback from each
of the axis in the robot arm. The computer uses this information to control
the movement of the robot.

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Side beam carriages

It is less expensive and less versatile than the boom and mast manipulator.
The side beam carriage performs straight-line welds with longitudinal travel of the
welding head. Side beam carriages are available with high-precision motion
depending on the accuracy used in the manufacture of the beam and the speed
regulation of the travel drive system. The carriage will carry the welding head, wire
supply and so on and the controls for the operator. The welding head on the
carriage can be adjusted for different heights and for in-and-out variations. The
welding arc is supervised by the welding operator who makes adjustments to follow
joints that are not in perfect alignment. The travel speed of the side beam carriage
is adjustable to accommodate different welding procedures and process. A side
beam carriage can be teamed up with a work-holding device or a rotating device.

Figure 8: Precision side beam carriage

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 Figure 9: Side beam carriage

Gantry or straddle carriages

Gantry arc welding machines are motion devices that provide one or two
axes of motion. The gantry consist horizontal beam supported at each end by a
powered carriage. The gantry structure straddles the work to be welded and the
carriages run on two parallel rails secured to the floor. This provides the longitudinal
motion and can be quite long. The length of the gantry bridge determines the width
of the parts that can be welded. The torches are mounted on carriage that moves
along the gantry beam. This provides the transverse motion. The travel speed of the
carriages must be smooth and match the welding speed of the welding process. The
one or more welding heads on the gantry bridge will have power travel or will have
adjusting devices to locate the head over the weld seam. Usually a maximum of two
torches are provided for transverse motion. And vertical motion should be available
for adjustment.

Figure 10: Gantry Welding Machine

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 Figure 11: FSW gantry at Eclipse Aviation for welding stringers and spars to
aluminium cabin panels

Tractors for flat-position welding

A welding tractor is an inexpensive way of providing arc motion. Tractors are

commonly used for mechanized flame cutting. Some tractors ride on the material
being welded while others ride on special tracks. The tractor should have sufficient
stability to carry the welding head, the electrode wire supply, flux and the welding
controls. This method popular in shipyards and in plate fabricating shops. The travel
speed of the tractor must be closely regulated and smooth and related to the
welding process. It must have sufficient power to drag cables. A more specialized
tractor carries two heads.

Figure 12: Welding tractor for SAW

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 Figure 13: Welding tractor, gun and track.

Carriages for all-position welding

There are many requirements for mechanized vertical or horizontal

position welding. A tractor that uses a special track is used. The gun is
connected to the wire feeder by means of the standard cable assembly. In
this case, an oscillator is employed to provide lateral arc motion. This type of
welding carriage can be used in the flat, vertical, horizontal or overhead
positions. Adjustments can be made to align the torch to the joint and for
maintaining this alignment. The track can be attached to the work with
magnets or vacuum cups. A special carriage known as a skate welder is
designed to follow irregular joints contours inside complex structures. Skate
welder travel units are extremely compact and carry a miniaturized wire
feeder or only a torch. Skate welders are used for welding inside aircraft
assemblies.

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 Figure 14: Overhead Figure 15: Horizontal

Figure 16: Vertical

5. Work Motion Device

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 A welding work motion device, commonly called a welding positioned.
It was a device that holds and moves a weldment to the desired location and
angle for welding. There are several negative aspect to weld positioning.
Positioning equipment is relatively expensive. The weldment must be firmly
attached to the positioned for a safety reason. The time required for loading
and unloading the positioned must be considered in cost calculations
justifying positioners.

The primary considerations for selecting a welding positioned are the size,
shape and weight of the weldment and the type and quantity of welds. In
addition, consideration must be given to the lot size of production and the
number of arc working simultaneously.

Figure 17: Welding positioner

6. Arc Welding Robots

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 Arc welding robot is one of the most common functions in industry
today. During this process, electricity jumps from an electrode guided
through the seam, to the metal product. This electric arc generates intense
heat, enough to melt the metal at the joint. Sometimes the electron is simply
a conductor that guides the arc. Other times the rod or wire is composed to
become part of the weld. During the short time that industrial welding robots
have been in use, the jointed arm or revolute type has become by far the
most popular. The reason for the popularity of the jointed arm type is that it
allows the welding torch to be manipulated in almost the same fashion as a
human being would manipulate it. The torch angle and travel angle can be
changed to make good quality welds in all positions. Jointed arm robots also
allow the arc to weld in areas that are difficult to reach.

Figure 18: Arc

Welding Robot

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Robot Manipulator

The robot manipulator can be divided into two sections, each with a
different function:

• Arm and Body - The arm and body of a robot are used to move and
position parts or tools within a work envelope. They are formed from
three joints connected by large links.
• Wrist - The wrist is used to orient the parts or tools at the work
location. It consists of two or three
compact joints.

The robot manipulator is created from a sequence of link and joint

combinations. The links are the rigid members connecting the joints, or axes.
The axes are the movable components of the robot that cause relative
motion between adjoining links. The mechanical joints used to construct the
manipulator consist of five principal types. Two of the joints are linear, in
which the relative motion between adjacent links is non rotational, and three
are rotary types, in which the relative motion involves rotation between
links.

The arm-and-body section of the manipulator is based on one of four

configurations. Each of these anatomies provides a different work envelope
and is suited for different applications.

a) Gantry - These robots have linear joints and are mounted overhead.
They are also called Cartesian and rectilinear robots.

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 b) Cylindrical - Named for the shape of its work envelope, cylindrical
anatomy robots are fashioned from linear joints that connect to a
rotary base joint.
c) Polar - The base joint of a polar robot allows for twisting and the joints
are a combination of rotary and linear types. The work space created
by this configuration is spherical.
d) Jointed-Arm - This is the most popular industrial robotic configuration.
The arm connects with a twisting joint, and the links within it are
connected with rotary joints. It is also called an articulated robot.

Figure 19: Type of Industrial Robots

Robot Safety

Depending on the size of the robot’s work envelop, speed, and proximity to
humans, safety considerations in a robot environment are important are
important, particularly for programmers and maintenance personal who are
in direct physical interaction with robots. In addition, the movement of the
robot with respect to other machinery requires a high level of reliability in
order to avoid collisions and damage to equipment. Its material-handling
activities required the proper securing of raw material and parts in the robot
gripper at various stages in the production lines.

7. Control For Automatic Arc Welding

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 A control system is required to run the welding program. The program
or welding procedure are the basis for making the weld. In manual welding,
these are established and control by the welder. In semiautomatic, welding a
control mechanism in the wire feeder actuates electrode wire feed and starts
the welding current and shielding gas flow when the welder presses the gun
trigger.

Mechanized and automatic welding have more complicated programs

and control additional functions, including travel or motion, torch position
and fixture motion. All motion function are sequential. Adaptive welding,
which varies weld parameters in accordance with actual conditions, has a
complicated computer control system that include sensing devices and
adaptive feedback.

Automatic Welding Controllers

Programmers are designed to execute a welding program. As the welding

program becomes more complex, the controller must include more electrical
circuits.

To fully understand a welding program, it is necessary to understand the

terms used:

a. Preflow time: The time between start of shielding gas flow and arc
starting(prepurge).

b. Start time: The time interval prior to weld time during which arc
voltage and current reach a preset value greater or less than welding
values.

c. Start current: The current value during the start time interval.

d. Start voltage: The arc voltage during the start time interval.

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e. Hot start current: a brief current pulse at arc initiation to stabilize the
arc quickly.

f. Initial current: The current after starting buty prior to upslope.

g. Weld time: The time interval from the end of start time or endof
upslope to beginning of crater fill time or beginning of downslope.

h. Travel start delay time: The time interval from arc initiation to the start
of work or torch travel.

i. Crater fill time: The time interval following weld time but prior to
burnback time, during which arc voltage or current reach a preset
value greater or less than a welding values. Weld travel may or may
not stop at this point.

j. Crater fill current: The arc current value during crater fill time.

k. Burnback time: The time interval at the end of crater fill time to arc
outage, during which electrode feed is stopped. Arc voltage and arc
length increase and current decreases to zero to prevent the electrode
from freezing in the weld deposit.

l. Downslope time: The time during which the current is changed

continuosly from final taper current or welding current to final current.

m. Upslope time: The time during which the current change continuosly
from initial current value to the welding value.

n. Postflow time : Time interval from current shutoff to shielding gas.

o. Weld cycle time: The total time required to complete the series of
events involved in making a weld from beginning of preflow to end of
postflow.

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 Figure 20: WELDING CONTROLLER

Robot Controllers

For robotic arc welding system, a much more complex controller is required.
Controller include a high speed microprocessor since coordinated,
simultaneous, continuous motion of up to eight axis and all welding
parameters may be required. As the number of axes increases, the amount
of computer capacity must increase.

The machine tool industry introduced numerical control (NC) years ago,
these are known a Point To Point (PTP) control system. Points are location in
two dimensions in one plane. For arc welding robot, the arc is moved from
one point to the next in space. The location of the arc is known as the tool
center point (TCP). The path of the TCP is programmed and stored in
memory. For spot welding, pick and place and machine loading, point to
point playback is used.

For arc welding, playback of the arc motion is a continuous path in space.
The robot controller must be coordinated so that each axis movement begins
and end at the same time. The programmer function is to accept the input of
many point locations, relate welding parameter to the path tough, and store
this information in memory, then play it back to execute a welding program.
The major points of interest are the teach mode, memory and playback or
execution.

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 Figure 21: Teach pendant

The method of teaching or programming the robot controller:

1. Manual method

2. Walk through

3. Lead through

4. Off-line programming

The manual method is not used for arc welding robot but it is used mainly for
pick and placed a robots. The walk through method requires the operator to
move the torch manually through the desired sequence of movement. Each
move is recorded into memory for playback during welding. The welding
parameters are controlled at appropriate positions during the weld cycle.

The lead through method is a popular way in programming a robot. The

robot welding operator accomplishes this using the teach pendant. By means
the keyboard on the teach pendant, the torch is driven through the required
sequence of motion. In addition, operator inputs electrode wire speed, arc
voltage, arc on, counters, output signals, job jump function and much more.
All of these functions are related to a particular point along the taught path.
In this way, if the speed of robot is changed, it is not necessary to change
the time for certain actions to happen.

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Off-line programming involves the preparation of the program on a
computer. An appropriate language must be used. The program is entered
into the robot memory very quickly. This increase the use of the robot, since
lead through teaching ties up the robot during programming. Off line
programming is becoming more widely used, but requires experienced
personnel.

Figure 22: Robot controller

Weld Execution

Weld can be made only when the power is on all components,

electrode wire is installed, and the controller is in playback or operate mode.
The material must be in the fixture and ready. Pushing the start button will
initiate the operation. The robot will move the torch to the start point. The
welding equipment will begin its cycle of operation (gas preflow, start the
arc). The robot controller will determine that the arc has started and then
start motion. Points along the taught path will initiate other activities
programmed. At the end of the taught path, the welding equipment will
terminate the weld program and the robot controller will determine that the
electrode wire has separated from has separated from the work. After this
the robot will return to its home position, ready for another cycle. At this

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point the weld should be checked for quality. The program should be
checked and edited to improve the weld if necessary and to minimize the air
cut path and increase air cut speed. When the weld quality is acceptable and
cycle time is at a minimum, it is time to freeze the program and start
production.

8. Gesture-based Programming for Robotic Arc Welding

Figure 1 :Multi-modal controller system components

1. The PC or laptop mediates between the multi-modal input devices

(glove and speech) and the ABB robot.
2. On the input side, it runs software that translates raw voice and glove
inputs into robot controller commands.
3. On the output side, it sends RAPID commands to the robot that contain
correct position and orientation information based on the appropriate
coordinate transformations.

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 Figure 23: Performing positioning tests
Motion and control commands

1. “Stop” or “Halt” – emergency stop

2. “Disable” or “Enable” – disable or enable multimodal control

Position slaving Orientation slaving

3. “Jog” with – move the robot along one of the world

frame xyz
axes.

4. “Joint [1-6]” – select a joint

5. “Joint plus” and “Joint minus” - move the selected joint
6. “Scale Bigger”, “Scale Biggest”, “Scale Smaller”, “Scale
Smallest”, or “Scale Normal” – change scaling
7. “Move” – move to the most recently taught point

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 8. “Home” – move to home position
9. “Safe” – move to safe position
10. “Unwrap” – unwrap from extreme joint position

Programming commands

1 “Teach” or “Teach weld” – append current robot position to

program
2 “Teach” or “Teach weld” with – append
pointed-to position to
program

3 “Run” – executes entire program

4 “First” or “Last” – move to first or last program position
5 “Forward” or “Backward”– move to next or previous program
position
6 “Modify” – modify the current program position
7 “Delete” or “Delete all” – delete current program position or all
positions
8 “Insert” – insert the current robot position before the current program
position
9 “Wet” or “Dry” – turning welding on or off
10 “Current position” – get the current program position
11 “Number of positions” – get the number of program positions

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 12 “Learn program” – adds current program to LBO model/database
13 “Move prediction” – moves to the next predicted program position
frame xyz axes

8.1 Gesture recognition

One of the key motivations behind this work is to turn a human hand into a multi-
functional 3-D parameter-specification device through the use of hand gestures. Hand gestures
can potentially be used to specify position, velocity, acceleration, size, direction, angle, angular
velocity, etc. Since robotic arc welding is three-dimensional in nature, hand gesture can be an
intuitive tool for providing parameters for its programming. For the demonstration, we prepared
a set of gestures to specify Cartesian position, direction, velocity, angular rotation, and angular
velocity (Table 1).

Gestures Parameters

Index-Pointing (index finger) Finger tip position, direction

L-Pointing (index finger & thumb) Finger tip position, direction

X-Pointing (index finger, middle Finger tip position, direction

finger & thumb)

Waving Finger tip velocity Palm direction

Turning Angular velocity

Grasp Binary (grasp or not)

Pinch Binary (pinch or not)

Open Binary (open or not)

Table 1: Gesture-Parameter relationships

In order to recognize dynamic hand gestures, we used hidden Markov models (HMMs),
which are known to work well for temporal and stochastic data. We applied the hidden Markov
model toolkit (HTK, by Microsoft) to hand-gesture recognition. Using HTK, which was
primarily developed for speech recognition research, we were able to treat hand gestures as

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words, and a sequence of hand gestures as a sentence. Through gesture sentences, we were able
to apply grammatical constraints to gesture recognition (e.g., Open comes before and after
Waving). Prior to the demonstration, three training subjects each spent two hours to record a total
of ~4000 executions of gesture sentences (a total of ~19200 gestures) to train the basic gesture
models.
The large number of training sets was necessary due to variability in gesture execution
and the stochastic nature of HMMs. To achieve user-independent gesture recognition, we used
two additional strategies: the use of triphones and adaptation. Phones are primary units of
recognition.
For example, z, ia, r, ow are the phones that describe the word “zero”, and each phone is
modeled by individual HMMs. However, such monophonic description does not model
transitions between phones. Therefore, triphones are used to model phones including transitions.
User adaptation was another important strategy in customizing HMMs to the characteristics of a
particular user. The new user is asked to perform few gesture sentences (in our case, we asked
the user to execute one sentence twice) to provide supervisory adaptation data to the system.

The system then adapts HMMs accordingly by generating model parameter transforms
that further reduce modeling errors on given adaptation data. The above strategies lead to a user-
independent gesture recognition system. However, the recognition was not reliable enough on
highly dynamic gestures such as waving and turning, due to the limited amount of training and
adaptation data1. Therefore, those two gestures were not given any functionality in the overall
system (Table 2).

Gestures Words Phones Function

Index-Pointing PTI pti Specify Fingertip
Position/Direction
L-Pointing PTI ptl Slaving (Position)
X-Pointing PTX ptx Slaving (Position)
Waving WVF/WVB wvf1+wvf2 / wvb1 + N/A
Forward/Backward
wvb2
Turning In/Out TNI/TNO tni1+tni2 / tno1 + tno2 N/A
Grasp GPW gpw N/A
Pinch GPC gpc N/A
Open OPN gpn N/A
Table 2: Gesture-Function relationships

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8.2 Speech recognition

The Microsoft speech recognition system comes free with MS XP and MS Office XP.
Once trained with an “accent” model through a roughly 15-minute reading session, the system is
highly speakerindependent for speakers with that accent (e.g., American English, Indian English,
or Swedish English). Additional speakers merely need to pronounce a 3-sentence sequence in
order to adjust the volume of the microphone. In our tests, we used English exclusively, but the
product permits recognition of many other languages, including Swedish.

8.3 Web Ware interface software

Multi-modal commands and prediction values are the inputs to the system. These inputs
are translated into robot movement commands or instructions for the internal program. Ideally,
we would issue the movement commands directly to the robot controller (Figure 2). However,
there is no facility to issue movement commands directly from an off-board computer.
Consequently, the implementation of the interface is more complex (Figure 3). At the lowest
level of the interface, a simple RAPID program moves the robot based on the values of its
persistent variables.

Figure 24. Ideal multi-modal controller interface to robot

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 This RAPID program is under thirty lines long (almost half of which is devoted to joint-
space commands) and is consequently called "skeleton". To affect robot movement,
WebWare/RAP allows us to modify the needed variables via a network connection. A custom
CMU/ABB API translates movement commands from the high-level multi-modal interpretation
module into WebWare instructions to modify RAPID variables.

Figure 25. Actual multi-modal controller interface to robot

This circuitous flow of information might be expected to introduce latencies, but the primary
source of delay seems to originate inside the robot controller itself. Specifically, there is a buffer of
commands internal to the controller that must be filled before the robot will move. This is true for
joystick-based commands as well. If this buffer were short-circuited, we believe that the vast majority of
delay in the GBP system would be eliminated. Another problem with the current implementation of the
interface relates to the peculiarity of the inverse-kinematic path planning of the ABB controller. Joints 4
and 6 make large motions, sometimes resulting in joint overruns at many reachable places in the
workspace, well away from an obvious Jacobian singularity. This is the common experience of ABB
robot users. This is an ABB-specific problem and one hopes it will be fixed in an upcoming controller
update. However, in the current implementation of the interface, this controller problem is aggravated

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because there is no way to monitor joint values from WebWare. We have created a provisional, hacked
solution, but it will be best to solve the problem at the root in the robot controller itself.

Figure 25 shows a screen shot of the GUI developed at CMU to monitor and adjust the
WebWare-based interface to the robot controller. It has a variety of options that facilitate testing and
calibration.

Figure 26 : GUI for WebWare interface to robot controller

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9. Robotic sensor

• Robotic sensor is a system that detects variations in parts and

compensates for the variation by shifting the robotic programs.
• A sensor is effective when it is difficult to keep programmed points in
consistent locations and there are part accuracy problems requiring
the operator to frequently adjust taught robot points. When this
occurs, sensors can be used to automatically shift the welding points.

Figure 27: Block Diagram of fuzzy controller

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Figure 28:Result of welding pool control. (a) with control ; (b) without control

REFERENCES

1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robot

2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robotics

3. http://www.weldingengineer.com/Robotic-Welding.htm

4. http://www.robots.com/movies.php

5. http://www.lincolnelectric.com/knowledge/articles/content/fixturing_rob
otic_welding_productivity.asp

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6. http://www.robot-welding.com/sitemap_frame.htm
7. http://www.daihen-usa.com/products/sensors/

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