PROWELD: an off–line welding robot programming package with an interactive graphical interface

A PC–based interactive software package for low–level programmers is developed the for off–line programming of robots for welding, and is evaluated for arc welding using a six–degree of freedom industrial robot. The package is also capable of simulating the process graphically. Weld trajectories are either determined by making use of user input three–dimensional weld seam drawings, or can be extracted from three–dimensional workpiece drawings. A module is developed for easy weld seam input, which also makes use of open–architecture libraries for classical weld geometries. The software package consists of modules for automatic selection of welding machine and robot programming parameters by making use of open–architecture libraries. The user can also override and input these parameters manually, whenever required.