Robot Teaching System for Horizontal Welding Line Control
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional teaching systems for welding and sealing robots face challenges in maintaining a horizontal welding or sealing line, which is crucial for quality, especially when dealing with complex shapes and multiple axes, leading to increased operator burden and complexity in off-line teaching.
Innovation Solution
A teaching system that generates a virtual image of a robot and workpiece, allowing operators to select ridgelines, extract teaching points, and calculate positions and postures for the positioner to ensure the welding or sealing line is parallel to the horizontal direction, thereby simplifying the generation of teaching programs for maintaining line horizontality.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Manufacturing precision
If manual teaching is used to keep the welding line horizontal, then welding quality can be maintained, but the operator burden increases significantly and the teaching process becomes highly abstruse
Solution Approach 1:
The system allows the welding robot to teach the positioner automatically by autonomously determining the workpiece ridgeline, calculating the required positioner posture to keep the welding line horizontal, and generating teaching data without operator intervention. This self-service approach eliminates the high operator burden while maintaining welding quality.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces manual mechanical teaching operations with an automated computational system that uses image processing, vector calculations, and coordinate transformations to determine positioner teaching data. This substitution of mechanical teaching with automated calculation significantly reduces operator burden while maintaining precision.
2Manufacturing precision
If complex teaching procedures are used for multi-axis positioners, then horizontal welding line can be achieved, but the teaching process becomes highly abstruse and time-consuming
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary actions by automatically capturing the workpiece image, extracting the ridgeline, and calculating the required positioner posture before actual welding begins. This preliminary automated preparation eliminates time-consuming manual teaching procedures while ensuring the welding line remains horizontal.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces complex multi-axis positioner teaching procedures with automated image processing and mathematical calculations. The system uses vector operations and coordinate transformations to directly compute positioner teaching data, significantly reducing teaching time while maintaining the horizontal welding line requirement.
3Ease of operation
If automated teaching is implemented, then operator burden is reduced, but the system complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The welding robot performs multiple functions: it executes welding operations, captures workpiece images, extracts ridgeline features, calculates positioner teaching data, and generates teaching programs. This multi-functionality consolidates what would otherwise require separate systems into a single integrated robot system, reducing overall system complexity while maintaining automation.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent merges the positioner teaching function with the welding robot's control system. The robot's control unit integrates image processing, geometric calculations, and teaching data generation, combining multiple previously separate functions into a unified system that reduces overall complexity despite the added automation capabilities.
Data Source
AI summary
In a teaching system including a display unit, an image generating unit generates a virtual image of a robot, a workpiece and a positioner for holding the workpiece. A display control unit controls the display unit to display the generated virtual image. Upon receiving an operator's operation of selecting a ridgeline of the workpiece of the virtual image, a work line generating unit extracts individual teaching target points of the ridgeline and generates a work line as a set of line segments each interconnecting the target points adjoining each other. A calculation unit calculates teaching values for positions and postures of the positioner on a point-by-point basis so that a vector direction of the work line at each target point becomes substantially parallel to a horizontal direction. A teaching program generating unit generates a teaching program for operating the positioner based on the calculated teaching values.