MACRO- & TASK-LEVEL PROGRAMMING OF ARC WELDING ROBOTS FOR AEROSPACE APPLICATIONS.

UNDER THE OVERALL PROGRAM WE WILL DEVELOP AN INNOVATIVE PROGRAMMING ENVIRONMENT TO BE INCORPORATED IN THE NEXT GENERATION OF ADVANCED WELDING ROBOT CONTROLLERS. THIS ENVIRONMENT WILL INCORPORATE MACRO-LEVEL PROGRAMMING, ICONIC USER INTERFACES, GRAPHICAL SIMULATION CAPABILITIES, AND POSSIBLY ELEMENTS OF TASK-LEVEL PROGRAMMING (E.G. AUTOMATIC PATH PLANNING AND WELD SEQUENCE OPTIMIZATION). MACRO-LEVEL PROGRAMMING, ASPECTS OF WHICH WILL BE IMPLEMENTED AND EVALUATED IN PHASE I, REFERS TO THE GENERATION OF COMPLEX PART PROGRAMS THROUGH HIERARCHICALCALLS TO PRIMITIVES WHICH ENCAPSULATE ALL THE REQUIRED MOTIONS AND OPERATIONS NEEDED TO WELD GENERIC CLASSES OF PARTS, COMPONENTS, OR JOINTS. SUCH DEVELOPMENTS WILL LEAD TO SIGNIFICANT IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PRODUCTIVITY AND CONSISTENCY OF TEACHING WELDING ROBOT PROGRAMS AND DIRECTLY IMPACT THE COST AND RELIABILITY OF ROBOTIC WELDING IN AEROSPACE APPLICATIONS. MAIN PHASE I TASKS INCLUDE: (A) BRIEF REVIEW OF RELATED WORK; (B) ANALYSIS OF WELDING FABRICATION REQUIREMENTS FOR AEROSPACE APPLICATIONS; (C) SPECIFICATION AND PRELIMINARY DESIGN OF THE PROPOSED ADVANCED PROGRAMMING ENVIRONMENT; AND (D) DEVELOPMENT AND EVALUATION OF ASPECTS OF THE PROPOSED MACRO-LEVEL PROGRAMMING APPROACHES. BASED ON THE ABOVE, THE FEASIBILITYOF THE PROPOSED SCHEMES WILL BE EXAMINED, NEEDS FOR FUTURE RESEARCH WILL BE IDENTIFIED, AND THE PHASE II EFFORT WILL BE PLANNED.