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Robot welding seam tracking method based on passive vision for thin plate closed-gap butt welding

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Abstract

A passive vision sensor is added to a teaching and playback welding robot for pulsed gas tungsten arc welding, which is normally used in the welding of thin plate closed-gap butts. This paper presents a seam tracking method based on this sensor through period visual measurement of the offset between the torch and the seam center. A robust image processing algorithm is developed to extract the seam center. A kind of ARX(auto-regressive with exogenous input) model is studied to describe the relationship between the rectifying voltage and the offset. The fuzzy PID(proportional-integral-derivative) seam tracking controller is analyzed and designed in consideration of various offsets based on the ARX model. The experimental results on straight line weld display a good seam tracking capability of the proposed method.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Intelligentized Robotic Welding Technology Laboratory, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China

    Hongbo Ma, Shanchun Wei, Tao Lin & Shanben Chen

  2. Dongfang Electric Cooperation, Sichuan, China

    Zhongxi Sheng

Authors
  1. Hongbo Ma
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  2. Shanchun Wei
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  3. Zhongxi Sheng
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  4. Tao Lin
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  5. Shanben Chen
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Correspondence to Hongbo Ma.

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Ma, H., Wei, S., Sheng, Z. et al. Robot welding seam tracking method based on passive vision for thin plate closed-gap butt welding. Int J Adv Manuf Technol 48, 945–953 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00170-009-2349-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00170-009-2349-4

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