AR-assisted robot welding programming

Robotic welding demands high accuracy and precision. However, robot programming is often a tedious and time-consuming process that requires expert knowledge. This paper presents an augmented reality assisted robot welding task programming (ARWP) system using a user-friendly augmented reality (AR) interface that simplifies and speeds up the programming of robotic welding tasks. The ARWP system makes the programming of robot welding tasks more user-friendly and reduces the need for trained programmers and expertise in specific robotic systems. The AR interface simplifies the definition of a welding path as well as the welding gun orientation, and the system; the system can locate the welding seam of a workpiece quickly and generate a viable welding path based on the user input. The developed system is integrated with the touch-sensing capability of welding robots in order to locate the welding path accurately based on the user input, for fillet welding. The system is applicable to other welding processes and methods of seam localization. The system implementation is described and evaluated with a case study.