Design and experimental verification of an intelligent wall-climbing welding robot system
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to present a new intelligent wall-climbing welding robot system for large-scale steel structure manufacture, which is composed of robot body, control system and welding system.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors design the robot system according to application requirements, validate the design through simulation and experiments and use the robot in actual production.
Findings
Experimental results show that the robot system satisfies the demands of automatic welding of large-scale ferromagnetic structure, which contributes much to on-site manufacturing of such structures.
Practical implications
The robot can work with better quality and efficiency compared with manual welding and other semi-automatic welding devices, which can much improve large-scale steel structure manufacturing.
Originality/value
The robot system is a novel solution for large-scale steel structures welding. There are three major advantages: the robot body with reliable adsorption ability, large payload capability and good mobility which meet the requirements of welding; the control system with good welding seam tracking accuracy and intelligent automatic welding ability; and friendly human – computer interface which makes the robot easy to use.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
This paper is an extended and updated version of the paper presented at the 17th International Conference on Climbing and Walking Robots (CLAWAR), Poznan, Poland, 21-23 July 2014, where it received the Industrial Robot Journal ‘Highly Commended’ award for practical innovation.
Citation
Gui, Z., Deng, Y., Sheng, Z., Xiao, T., Li, Y., Zhang, F., Dong, N. and Wu, J. (2014), "Design and experimental verification of an intelligent wall-climbing welding robot system", Industrial Robot, Vol. 41 No. 6, pp. 500-507. https://doi.org/10.1108/IR-08-2014-0384
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2014, Emerald Group Publishing Limited