Universal Robots achieve breakthrough in outdoor welding quality stability

Universal Robots achieve breakthrough in outdoor welding quality stability

Shanghai, China, February 21, 2023. The manufacturing industry has long faced the difficulty in recruiting welders. Compared with indoor welding tasks, outdoor construction welding faces more prominent human resource challenges due to its complex environment and engineering characteristics.

In outdoor projects, due to the high building height, considerations such as seismic performance design put forward additional requirements for welding quality; at the same time, buildings often involve a large number of complex structures such as truss columns, main trusses, and secondary structures, with complex node structures, multiple forms of welding joints, and crisscrossing welds, resulting in high technical difficulty. All of this puts extremely high demands on the stability of outdoor welding quality. In traditional manual welding, young workers who are new to the industry have limited technical skills, and even for skilled welders, it is a major challenge to maintain high quality under the pressure of high loads and tight construction deadlines. In this context, collaborative robot welding, with its advantages of automation, high flexibility, and easy programming, is increasingly becoming an important means to solve the problem of outdoor welding employment.

Universal Robots (hereinafter referred to as "UR") has keenly observed how collaborative robots can help overcome common challenges in the welding field, and has continuously launched a variety of automated welding solutions , which have successfully helped a large number of customers around the world to achieve welding automation. Specifically in the field of outdoor construction welding, UR has cooperated with its technical partner SquareDog Robotics (hereinafter referred to as "SQD") to apply the collaborative welding robot SQD-Robo Welder adaptive welding robot to outdoor construction sites.

This solution is equipped with Universal Robots' collaborative robot UR10, which focuses on stabilizing outdoor welding quality and optimizing the welding working environment. It has been applied in many key projects such as Taikoo Shing Phase II, Wong Chuk Hang MTR Station, Kai Tak Development Area New Acute Hospital, Hong Kong International Airport Three-Runway System Project, and Kwong Wah Hospital Reconstruction Project. Taking the Kai Tak construction site as an example, there are currently 10 welding robots working on the construction site, solving manpower problems through innovative technology and efficiently advancing the construction progress. The operator himself does not need to hold a medium or large welding process qualification, and there is no need for a dedicated worker, and the robot can be put into work quickly.

SQD focuses on construction welding automation, and it combines with Universal Robots' collaborative robots to form collaborative welding robots. The Adaptive Robotic Control (ARC) system in SQD's core technology Robota6th allows any worker to easily and intuitively complete the setting of industrial robots within 2 to 5 minutes, which is a new breakthrough in automation in the construction and welding industries. At the same time, its "UR + Welding" interactive welding system can calculate the optimal automatic calculation path through the scanning data obtained by the laser sensor, thereby improving process stability and operational flexibility. Specifically, collaborative welding robots can help customers overcome the challenges faced by traditional manual welding in the following aspects.

• Ensure consistent welding quality: In traditional welding, welding quality is determined by the welder’s skills and experience, but there is a general shortage of skilled welders. Using collaborative robots to perform welding tasks is more precise and controllable than manual operations, and even a novice can ensure consistent welding quality.

• The system is simple and ordinary workers can quickly get started : Universal Robots provides a simple graphical programming method and drag-to-teach function, so ordinary operators can complete welding tasks independently without professional programming skills. In the past, it took workers three years to obtain professional welding qualifications, but now it only takes two weeks to obtain an operator card, get started immediately, and complete the robot programming settings in a few minutes.

[Simple system, easy to operate]

• Easy to deploy, dual-task in parallel, and flexible task switching: The Universal Robots collaborative robot has a small footprint, can be installed at any angle, and has 17 configurable safety features, so there is no need to set up a separate isolation space, and it is more flexible to deploy than traditional robots. Unlike traditional manual welding where one worker can only complete one job, SQD-Robo Welder allows one operator to control two robots at the same time, and dual-task in parallel further improves flexibility and production efficiency. In addition, SQD-Robo Welder can also be installed on specific devices and use ARC mode to work in different environments and positions, such as I-beam welding and other intelligent welding without preset programs.

[Two SQD-Robo Welder adaptive welding robots simultaneously perform I-beam welding]

• Multi-pronged approach to protect technical workers: The use of collaborative robots helps reduce the risks of burns, electric shock, impaired vision, and inhalation of harmful gases that workers often face in manual welding tasks. Universal Robots' patented technology also ensures that the collaborative robots limit their force when they come into contact with workers. Users can also program the UR collaborative robots to slow down when someone enters the collaborative robot's work area and resume full speed when the person leaves.

• Reduce costs and increase efficiency: Customers who use the SQD-Robo Welder collaborative welding robot have seen an average productivity increase of 25%, cost savings of up to 40%, and a payback period of less than 3 years.

SquareDog Robotics said: "We have been committed to using automation to help the construction industry improve the efficiency and quality of welding projects. We are very happy to be able to closely integrate with Universal Robots' collaborative robot technology to help welders better cope with complex environments in outdoor construction welding and more stably ensure welding quality. From a technical perspective, the technical maturity and stability of Universal Robots' collaborative robots have left a deep impression on us and our end customers. From a deployment perspective, we do not need to build expensive automated production units specifically for Universal Robots, and the waterproof and dustproof level of Universal Robots can cope with most outdoor working environments, which is very flexible."

Outdoor construction welding is one of the application areas of welding automation technology. With its capabilities in TIG welding, MIG welding, spot welding, arc welding, ultrasonic welding, plasma welding and other types of welding processing, Universal Robots will continue to develop new welding automation technologies, continuously expand application scenarios, and help users in more fields achieve welding automation transformation.