Because the designed welding robot operates in a quasi-planar, confined space, it must be compact, mobile, and stable to ensure automatic welding by tracking the weld seam based on the deviation information from the arc sensor. This paper develops a small mobile welding robot specifically for confined spaces. Based on the motion characteristics of each component, a modular design approach is used, dividing the robot mechanism into three parts: a wheeled mobile platform, a welding torch adjustment mechanism, and an arc sensor. The wheeled mobile platform, due to its high inertia and slow response, primarily performs coarse tracking of the weld seam. The welding torch adjustment mechanism is responsible for precise weld seam tracking, and the arc sensor performs real-time identification of weld seam deviations.
Furthermore, the robot controller and motor driver are integrated into the robot's mobile platform, further reducing its size. To minimize the impact of dust on moving parts in harsh welding environments, a fully enclosed structure is adopted to improve system reliability.
