A pre-buck apparatus for a vehicle body assembling system comprises a pre-buck section and a main buck section that are set along a transfer path of a floor assembly. The pre-buck apparatus is formed in the pre-buck section, and while the side assembly is disposed in each of opposite sides of the transfer path in the pre-buck section, the pre-buck apparatus controls a lower portion of the side assembly, and the lower portion of the side assembly is pre-assembled to the floor assembly using a first welding robot.

A welding robot comprising an arm having a wrist part and upper arm part rotatably connected to each other, a welding torch attached to the arm at the wrist part side, a wire feed device attached to the arm at the upper arm side, a welding cable connected to both of the wire feed device and the welding torch for holding a welding wire, a control part for controlling operation of the arm so that the welding torch is moved over a welding path, and a monitoring part for monitoring if the amount of flexure of the welding cable caused by operation of the wrist tilt axis located between the wrist part and upper arm part while the welding torch is moved over the welding path under the control of the control part is within an allowable range.

A pipe assembly station for performing operations on a field joint during pipe assembly has an active rail extending around an opening through which the pipe can pass. Tool carriages are arranged to traverse along the active rail and around a periphery of the pipe. The station also comprises a standby position, distanced from the active rail and a switch arranged to transfer the tool carriage from the active rail to the standby position. By providing such a combination of a rail and a standby position, a tool carriage can be brought into position on the active rail to perform a pipe joining operation and can be subsequently set back to the standby position, where it is out of the way of operations taking place on the pipe. Such a switching arrangement allows for more effective use of the limited space around the joint.

A plasma cutting apparatus includes a housing, a workpiece support, a movable plasma nozzle, and a nozzle drive arrangement. The housing includes a base, an upright pedestal extending upward from the base, and a stationary head cantilevered from the upright pedestal. The workpiece support extends from the upright pedestal and is located below the stationary head. The nozzle extends downward from an underside of the stationary head and is oriented for delivering a cutting plasma generally along one direction and toward a workpiece on the workpiece support. The nozzle drive arrangement is mounted to the stationary head and is connected for moving the plasma nozzle during a cutting operation.

An apparatus (10) for joining a predetermined geometrical profile shape from a sheet material (SM) includes a positioning assembly (12) including a base member (14) and a frame (16) that is operable to receive the sheet material (SM), to configure the sheet material in a predetermined orientation and to linearly translate the sheet material along a process direction (20). A Z-bar (22) is configured to guide a first longitudinal edge (FE) and second longitudinal edge (SE) of the sheet material (SM) into adjacent alignment along the process direction (20). A welding and forging assembly (60) welds and then forges a seam between the first longitudinal edge (FE) and the second longitudinal edge (SE) of the associated sheet material (SM).

Systems and methods for real time feedback and for updating welding instructions for a welding robot in real time is described herein. The data of a workspace that includes a part to be welded can be received via at least one sensor. This data can be transformed into a point cloud data representing a three-dimensional surface of the part. A desired state indicative of a desired position of at least a portion of the welding robot with respect to the part can be identified. An estimated state indicative of an estimated position of at least the portion of the welding robot with respect to the part can be compared to the desired state. The welding instructions can be updated based on the comparison.

A system for voice-controlled jewelry laser processing is provided. The system includes a laser processing apparatus with a workstation, a laser emitter, a and a holding means. A scanning system may generate a digital representation of the scanned portion of the jewelry and generates a scanning signal including data related to the digital representation. The control unit includes a display and is configured to receive the digital representation and move at least one of the laser emitter and the holding means by interaction of a user with the display. The voice control apparatus includes a microphone, a memory, and a processor. The processor executes the instruction set in response to the voice commands received by the microphone from the user. The voice commands include photograph, power, time, frequency, and diameter voice commands. Ways of using the system are also provided.

The present disclosure teaches systems and methods for robotic welding of studs onto the surface of I-beams. These systems and methods will find industrial applicability in, for example, the steel erection industry.

A method for joining concealed workpiece parts by an energy beam, wherein a lower workpiece part and an upper workpiece part are positioned relative to each other; the upper workpiece part contacts the lower workpiece part along a joining contour; the energy beam is directed onto an upper side of the upper workpiece part, moved along the joining contour by a controller, in order to join the upper workpiece part to the joining contour; an exploratory seam is produced on the upper work piece part, for detecting the joining contour; a detector detects a boundary at which a surface area of the upper work piece part borders a surface area of the upper work piece part which does have contact with the joining contour; the controller registers a position of the boundary and compares it with a target position of the boundary which is stored in the controller.

A method and apparatus for providing welding type power is disclosed. The welding type power supply has fours sides, a top and a base. Two opposing of the sides and the top are part of a housing. A front panel and a back panel form the other two opposing sides. The front and back panel and the housing are joined such that the front and back panels and the first and second sides form the four sides of the welding type power supply. The base is comprised of extruded material, and has a first edge and a second edge. The first edge is joined to a bottom of the first side and the second edge is joined to a second bottom of the second side. Power and control circuitry disposed in the space formed between housing, front panel, back panel and base.