1. Planning Walkthrough

Tutorial

This tutorial shows how to generate a robotic welding program for a simple box component.

In Verbotics Weld there are many different ways to go about creating a weld program, this guide outlines the steps taken to create a program for an example part. It can be used as a reference guide for a general workflow to program a robot with Verbotics Weld.

Prerequisites and Resources

Before starting with the tutorial, ensure to have downloaded and installed the Yaskawa Motoman Example Cell which is available in the resource link above. To install Verbotics Weld and import the cell please see the Installation tutorial.

We will be using a fire pit workpiece assembly in this tutorial which can be downloaded from here.

Video Tutorial

Timestamps:

• 0:00 Start
• 0:15 Introduction
• 0:52 Step 1: Preparing a New Project
• 3:01 Step 2: Weld Detection
• 3:57 Step 3: Weld Settings
• 5:42 Step 4: Preparing and Planning Welds
• 8:30 Step 5: Simulation and Code Generation

Step by Step Guide

Step 1: Preparing a New Project

For this walkthrough we will be using the Yaskawa with positioner workcell. Click the New Project button and select the “Yaskawa Motoman Example Cell”.

New Project Dialog

Importing parts

Click the Import Part button in the ribbon and navigate to the directory where you have saved the example part. Select the part (STEP files are supported).

Import Part Button

Note

If you import a part and need to move it, you can right click on it and select “Translate / rotate”. See Transform Parts and Welds for more details.

Setting fixture parts as non-weldable

The non-weldable setting prevents the weld identification system from looking for welds in parts that are not weldable (such as fixturing), or welds between parts that have already been completed. In this project this part is attached to the workpiece positioner with two square sections that run along the bottom of the assembly. There are also some boxes that denote clamps. These parts will all be set to non-weldable.

Not Weldable Option

1. Select the part from the “Workspace” tab or click on the part in the viewer. Note that the CAD hierarchy can be expanded if parts are in sub-assemblies.

2. Disable the Weldable checkbox.

Parts that are set to non-weldable are shown as grey in the viewer.

This section is complete. Your project should now look like this. You can save the project at this point by clicking ‘File’ > ‘Save’ and following the prompts.

Completed Part Setup

Step 2: Weld Detection

This section shows you how to use Verbotics Weld to automatically identify weld paths and directions from the CAD model. It does not require you to manually create each weld. For more details on weld detection please refer to the Weld Identification reference.

Identify Welds Button

1. Click Identify Welds button in the ribbon.

2. Set the detection settings according to the table below.

3. Wait for welds to be detected.

4. Press the Create Welds button to add the welds to the project.

Weld detection distance	1.0mm
Minimum weld length	10.0mm
Maximum immediate angle change	60°
Maximum total angle change	1000°

The weld identification dialog

Step 3: Adjusting the Weld Settings

Create weld settings

Weld settings in Verbotics Weld let our planning algorithms know how you would like your welds to be performed. In addition to typical settings such as the robot welding parameters, these settings also have the geometric limits of the process such as the wire stick-out, the travel angle, and the work angle.

Weld Settings Button

To create weld process settings:

1. Click the Weld Settings button in the ribbon.

2. Add a new setting by clicking the + button.

3. Add the weld settings shown below. All other values can be left as their default values.

Name	Test Settings
Welding Speed	10.0 mm/s
Additional stick-out	0mm to 10mm
Travel angle	-35° to 35° with optimal 10°
Work angle	-10° to 10° with optimal 0°

The weld settings dialog

Apply weld settings

Once you create the “Test Settings” weld settings, you can apply it to the welds in the project:

1. Go the Welds tab, and select all welds using Ctrl+A.

2. In the Detail area, select the “Test Settings” option in the Weld Process dropdown.

Applying Custom Weld Settings

Step 4: Preparing and Planning Welds

Weld Filtering

The weld identification process will detect welds on both the inside and outside of parts. The unnecessary internal welds located on the underside of several of the horizontal plates can be disabled to minimise clutter. This is done by checking if each weld is accessible to the robot.

1. Go to the welds tab and select the filter button .

2. Expand the Weld Position drop-down box.

3. Leaving the left-handed and right-handed options enabled, uncheck every remaining position except for overhanging.

4. Return to the welds widget

5. Select all filtered welds, right click, and select Enable/Disable to disable them.

Filter Welds Dialogue

Weld Position Filter

Disable Filtered Welds

Plan Welds

Planning runs the Verbotics Weld planning algorithms that will attempt to generate the weld, path finding and motion paths. Our algorithms take into account collisions and robot kinematic limitations to automatically create these motions without the typical human effort required in typical offline programming packages.

Verbotics Weld uses probabilistic techniques to perform planning. This will mean you may get different results each time a weld is planned. For this reason we suggest trying to attempt planning 3-5 times in the case that a weld is not successfully planned in the first instance.

1. Click the Plan button in the ribbon.

2. Set the planning attempts to 5.

3. Click the Plan button in the dialog.

4. Wait for planning to complete (approximately 20 minutes depending on your computer performance).

5. Click OK when planning is complete to apply the results to the project.

Plan button

Plan Welds dialog

Plan welds function in progress

Step 5: Simulation and Code Generation

Simulating a Weld Program

The motions created by the planner can be simulated in the viewer. From the Weld tab, each individual weld can be simulated, and in the Program tab the complete weld process can be simulated.

1. Select a weld in the Weld tab, or a process in the Program tab.

2. Use the simulation controls under the viewer to play and pause the simulation.

Simulating the Planned Welds Program

Generate Code

The final step is to generate code for your robot. In the trial version, code generation is not available. Please contact us if you would like to access sample code or discuss purchasing Verbotics Weld. For currently supported robot makes, please see the Supported Robots page.