Robotic gas metal arc welding of small diameter saddle type joints using multi-stripe structured light

Gary R. Bonser; Graham A. Parker

doi:10.1117/1.602244

1 November 1999 Robotic gas metal arc welding of small diameter saddle type joints using multi-stripe structured light

Gary R. Bonser, Graham A. Parker

Optical Engineering, Vol. 38, Issue 11, (November 1999). https://doi.org/10.1117/1.602244

Single-stripe structured light (SSSL) sensors are widely used in conjunction with arc welding robots for seam-tracking purposes. The interaction of the projected light with the weld joint and component surfaces produces characteristic line shapes with feature points that can be recognized at high speed by an underlying vision system. Unfortunately they are suitable only for the major classes of weld joint typically encountered within industry long, straight, or gently curving fillet or butt joints. We present a multistripe structured light (MSSL) sensor that detects and measures the position of the saddle type weld joint formed by two small (<50-mm)-diameter intersecting tubes. The underlying image processing algorithms detect the weld feature points from each stripe along with four calibration points to generate the entire weld path in the robot workcell base coordinate system before welding commences. The system is validated within an existing welding application: detecting 93% of the weld feature points within ±0.4 mm when used on 30-mm-diam tubes.

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Gary R. Bonser and Graham A. Parker "Robotic gas metal arc welding of small diameter saddle type joints using multi-stripe structured light," Optical Engineering 38(11), (1 November 1999). https://doi.org/10.1117/1.602244

Published: 1 November 1999

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