Haptic and visual augmented reality interface for programming welding robots

It is a challenging task for operators to program a remote robot for welding manipulation depending only on the visual information from the remote site. This paper proposes an intuitive user interface for programming welding robots remotely using augmented reality (AR) with haptic feedback. The proposed system uses a depth camera to reconstruct the surfaces of workpieces. A haptic input device is used to allow users to define welding paths along these surfaces. An AR user interface is developed to allow users to visualize and adjust the orientation of the welding torch. Compared with the traditional robotic welding path programming methods which rely on prior CAD models or contact between the robot end-effector and the workpiece, this proposed approach allows for fast and intuitive remote robotic welding path programming without prior knowledge of CAD models of the workpieces. The experimental results show that the proposed approach is a user-friendly interface and can assist users in obtaining an accurate welding path.