TWI Industrial Member Report Summary 209/1983
By W Lucas and E Morris
Background
Research conducted in conjunction with Liverpool University into robotic systems suitable for TIG welding has led to the design of three machines, a single axis, microcomputer controlled machine and two robots with three and five degrees of freedom, respectively. Details are given of their operating features and the microcomputer and electronic hardware necessary to achieve these design features. The approach adopted for software development is also described. Emphasis here is placed on the use of a high level language to achieve flexibility with subroutines written in assembly language for faster response. The path entry technique is point to point and in the more sophisticated five axis machine, continuous path interpolation is used to reproduce smooth curves.