International Workshop on Robotic Welding Systems and Process Monitoring

Robotic Welding
System Issues
J. Norberto Pires Mechanical Engineering Department University of Coimbra – Portugal [e-mail] robotics.dem.uc.pt/norberto/

Welding 2001, International Workshop on Robotic Welding Systems and Process Monitoring, Portugal

Outline
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. Robot Technology State of the Art Robot environment and Driving Forces to Automation Difficulties in Automation Improvements needed in the near future. Welding Application - Overview Software architecture Remote Services Adding equipment Conclusions

Welding 2001, International Workshop on Robotic Welding Systems and Process Monitoring, Portugal

Brief History
Robotics was part of the thoughts of many of the great thinkers of common history. From all of them we select: Ctesibius (270 BC) ⇒ the Greeks and the Arabians Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519) Nicola Tesla (1845-1943)

Welding 2001, International Workshop on Robotic Welding Systems and Process Monitoring, Portugal

Ctesibius the Greeks and the Arabians
Briefly, the first works on robotics may be traced back until 270 BC, in the ancient Greece, to the water clocks with mobile figures designed by the Civil Engineer Ctesibius. His work was followed by Phylo of Byzantium (author of the marvellous book “Mechanical Collection”, 200 BC), Hero of Alexandria (85 BC) and Marcus Vitruvius (25 BC). Several hundred years later, the Arabians documented (the three Banu Musa working for the Kalifa of Baghdad, 786-833 AC) and developed (Badías-Zaman Isma’Il bin ar-Razzaz al-Jazari in the book “The science of the Ingenious Devices”, 1150-1220 AC) the Greek designs to be used on their own creations.
Welding 2001, International Workshop on Robotic Welding Systems and Process Monitoring, Portugal

Leonardo
Leonardo Da Vinci also spent some time on robotics, when he was working for the Sforza family. By the same time he painted “The last supper”, he was also involved with building the “Salle delle Asse” of

References: Pires JN. and Sá da Costa JMG., "Ferramentas de Software para Controlar, Programar e Monitorizar um Robô Manipulador Industrial usando Computadores Pessoais", IberoAmerican Mechanical Engineering Association Magazine, 1998;2(1):43-67. Bloomer J., "Power Programming with RPC", O 'Reilly & Associates, Inc., 1992. Pires JN, Sá da Costa JMG, “Object Oriented and Distributed Approach for Programming Robotic Manufacturing Cells”, IFAC Journal on Robotics and Computer Integrated Manufacturing, to appear 1999. Pires JN, “Controlo de Força em Robôs Manipuladores Industriais”, Ph.D. Thesis, University of Coimbra, June, 1999. Kusiak A., "Modelling and Design of Flexible Manufacturing Systems", Elsevier Science Publishers, 1986. Pires JN, “Interfacing Robotic and Automation Equipment with Matlab”, IEEE Robotics and Automation Magazine, September 2000. Pires JN, “Emailware: A tool for e-Manufacturing”, Assembly Automation Journal, MCB University Press (to appear, expected February 2001). Pires JN, “Using Actual Robot Manipulators with Construction Tasks”, Proceedings of the ISARC’17, International Conference on Automation and Robotics in Construction, Taipei, Taiwan, September 2000. Final message: Robotics as a technology will evolve enormously with the cooperation between academia & industry. In that point o view, it is very important to have many fields of application, like robotic welding. In Europe there is a network that addresses Robotics research and development called EURON. Within EURON there is the interest in “industrial or applied thinking” ... Check EURON in: http://www.cas.kth.se/euron/ EURON is coordinated by Dr. Henrik Christensen (KTH, Sweden) Check EURON “Industrial Robotics & Manufacturing Interest Group” in: http://www.control.lth.se/~robot/euron/mig.html This Group is coordinated by Dr. Klas Nilsson (Lund, Sweden), Dr. Gordon Petersen (Odense, Denamrk) & Dr. J. Norberto Pires (Coimbra, Portugal)