Robots and Welding

The use of robots to increase production and improve quality is growing rapidly in the U.S.  Robots can reduce the number of employees necessary to complete projects therefore reducing overhead.  

• The number of robotic cells in U.S. industry has doubled since 1992, from 46,000 to 92,000.
• The U.S. is second only to Japan (with about 460,000 robots in use) in worldwide robot usage.
• One trend that is pushing companies toward more automation is the declining number of trained welders.
• (A rule-of-thumb is that a welding robot can do the work of three or more
• manual welders.)
• The following are some common arc welding gun, torch, peripheral, and other considerations for robotic welding.
• The parameters for robotic welding may be higher than for manual welding to accommodate a higher duty cycle and a possibly faster wire feeding.
• Normally, the wire feeder for robotic welding is mounted on the robot arm, separate from the power supply.
• For robotic welding, a control interface between the robot controller and the power supply and wire feeder is needed. 
• While some might think that a robotic GMAW torch is nothing more than a manual gun attached to a robotarm, there are significant differences.
• Some robotic guns have integrated wire incher controls, and all but the most basic models have emergency-stop capability to prevent damage to the robot arm and the welding gun in the event of a collision.
• Robotic gun design should take into account the need for automatic cleaning. 
• Because a robotic torch probably will be running at a much higher duty cycle than a manual torch, those who are shopping for equipment must decide on an air- or water-cooled torch.
• If robot arc-on time is going to exceed 60 percent, a fabricator may have to use a larger air-cooled robotic torch than the manual gun previously used for the application or switch to a water-cooled model.
• Generally, the price of the welding torch is a relatively small part of the cost of a robotic workcell.
• A robotic torch should be chosen with the emphasis on the capabilities needed for a fabricator's particular applications rather than cost considerations.

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