Offline programming three dimensional complex FSW trajectories integrating robot deflections
By Komlan Kolegain (Institut de Soudure), François Leonard (ENIM - Université de Lorraine), Sandra Chevret (Arts et Métiers ParisTech), Amarilys Ben Attar (Institut de Soudure), Gabriel Abba (ENIM - Université de Lorraine)

Robotic Friction Stir Welding (RFSW) is an innovative process which permits to join aluminum materials with robots. Using robots to realize a FSW operation presents the drawback that the robots undergo elastic deformation during the welding due to the high forces induced by the process. This leads to the end effector deviation in position and orientation. Today, there is noCAM/CAD tool which permits to generate offline the path with the compensation of the deflections. In this paper, a methodology based on B-splines curves is proposed to generate offline a welding path which compensate the elastic deformation in order to achieve a high quality welding of three-dimensional workpieces. The methodology is validated on a Kuka robot KR500-2MT which performs a sinusoidal welding path defined on a cylindrical surface. The experiment shows the effectiveness of the methodology and permits to reduce significantly (about 88%) the lateral end effector deviation.
To conclude this presentation, a comparison between online and offline compensation technique will be presented