Client: NRC & QUB - Robot Assisted Welding
Knowledge Provider: Northern Regional College
Sector: Advanced Manufacturing and Advanced Materials
NRC & QUB - Robot Assisted Welding
NRC & QUB Connected Competitive Fund Project - Robot Assisted Welding Project
NRC & QUB were successful in their Competitive Fund bid to develop a system to improve welding efficiencies and quality for local industry. This academic partnership has identified many opportunities for local businesses who have collaborated with the College.
NRC & QUB - Robot Assisted Welding
On the 8th June 2022, at the Farmlodge campus, Ballymena; Northern Regional College together with Queen’s University showcased to local businesses an innovative concept relating to manual and automated welding.
Having applied for the Connected Competitive Fund in February 2021, Alan Reid, Principal Lecturer-Industry Engagement, Northern Regional College and Andrew Schofield, Senior Manufacturing Engineer at Queen’s University Belfast developed a system to improve welding efficiencies and quality.
Their brainchild has identified many opportunities for local businesses, who have collaborated with the college, including Hutchinson Engineering, Maine Group, Quad-X and McAuley Engineering, all of whom have an interest in robotic welding.
Their project, Robot Assisted Welding, aims to improve productivity by introducing collaborative robots as relatively low-cost welding aids. These can be used to assist with the assembly and positioning of components during manual and automated welding processes.
There are two variants of the assisted welding robot. The first makes use of a collaborative robot which functions as a part loader and manipulator, while a manual weld operator holds a welding torch in a static position – this has scope for minor adjustments. The second makes use of a collaborative robot as a part loader and manipulator, while an automated welding robot carries out welds.
As part of the project, Queen’s University Belfast demonstrated a case study of the offline programming and simulation of a collaborative robot assisting an industrial robot. This simulation showed the benefits of offline programming for highly realistic simulation of the physical world and the simulation of the control interface between the two robots.
When asked how local businesses benefit from their creation, Alan Reid, Northern Regional College said:
“For both the manual and automated welding processes, businesses can benefit from an improved quality weld, reduction in cycle time, minimum tooling costs and consistency in technique; all of which will be beneficial to the fabrication sector”
Northern Regional College and Queens University organised the Assisted Robotic Welding Showcase event to demonstrate their innovation. For more information, contact alan.reid@nrc.ac.uk