Over the years, robotic welding has been utilized in various industries to increase productivity by automating production and ensure consistent quality. Traditionally, robotic welders required large investments in equipment and personnel training.
Some of the reasons for using robotic welding are as follows:
- Automate production
- Cost savings
- Quality improvements – Consistency and repeatability
- Health and safety considerations – no exposure of hazardous fumes and radiation to personnel necessary
- Operator required and not a welder – helps to address welder shortages
- More flexible than hard automation
- Improve efficiency
- Make repetitive jobs safer
However, there are some disadvantages with traditional robotic welding as follows:
- High overall investment to implement – robot, controls, power source, jig/fixture and safety fence/equipment
- Specialised programming skills required
- Large space requirements
The above disadvantages have restricted applications where robots can be used. Collaborative robots (cobots) have been introduced to address some of the limitations of traditional robots.