Welding - just scratching the surface

Citation

Loughlin, C. (2005), "Welding - just scratching the surface", Industrial Robot, Vol. 32 No. 4. https://doi.org/10.1108/ir.2005.04932daa.001

Welding - just scratching the surface

Welding – just scratching the surface

Our main theme for this issue is welding and according to the latest UK/IFR statistics (please refer to IFR news in this issue), welding counts for about 49 per cent of robot applications. This therefore sounds very much like a major success story for robots – and indeed it is. Robots are able to weld with greater consistency and accuracy than people can manage even on a good day. However, as in most application areas, robots are only scratching the surface of potential installations.

Looking again at the statistics we can see that even for the most robotised industry (automotive) in the most robotised country (Japan), the number of robots per 10,000 production workers is just 1,400, or 14 per cent. For most industries and countries the numbers are well down on this and in the UK we are pleased to have reached 0.4 per cent.

We may not yet be ready for a world where machines do all the work and people pass their years in meditation and/or drinking champagne cocktails, but one job that at least should be secure is that of “robot salesperson”.

Returning to our theme, the number of welding robots is still dwarfed by the number of people in blue overalls and baseball caps with their peaks reversed and skin complexions darkened by excessive doses of UV and welding fumes. These people are in the main, highly skilled and lowly paid. Personally I do not think that their jobs are under threat, but the challenge for welding robot manufacturers is to come up with machines and systems that can be quickly and easily applied in cramped situations, and work with intelligence on non-repetitive welding tasks.

The present design of the vast majority of welding robots is totally unsuitable for such applications.

I do not know if the producers of the Flexibot (please refer to Company news in this issue) have considered welding, but its is just such a radical new design that is needed for these difficult applications.

One major problem with existing welding robots is that they are hard to move around and so it is usual for the work to be brought to them and nicely presented in alignment jigs, rather than for them to be moved to the work. This is fine for cars on production lines or welding-up supermarket trolleys, but not so handy when what you need to weld is three floors up on a construction site, buried within the hull of a supertanker, or simply six foot off the ground in a welding shop.

What is needed in these situations is a robot that can be quickly assembled on site and suitably positioned within the work area. A small robot base that can be clamped in place (G-clamps or magnetic), then have power applied and finally the arm itself plugged in to the base, has a lot to recommend it in my view. And the Flexibot, or something like it, could fit the bill nicely.

Clive Loughlin