MULTIVARIABLE CONTROL OF ROBOTIC GAS METAL ARC-WELDING

The current generation of robotic gas metal arc welding systems tend t o separate control of the robot from control of the weld process, alth ough the two are intimately related. This paper presents some results of the research of the authors into multi-variable control of an integ rated robotic welding system. A weld process model is developed, and a control structure is proposed and verified. Necessary seam-tracking c apabilities are identified, and their implementation is described.