Int J Adv Manuf Technol (2013) 66:1535–1543
DOI 10.1007/s00170-012-4437-0
ORIGINAL ARTICLE
Vision-based initial weld point positioning
using the geometric relationship between two seams
Zaojun Fang · De Xu · Min Tan
Received: 12 April 2012 / Accepted: 30 July 2012 / Published online: 1 September 2012
© Springer-Verlag London Limited 2012
Abstract This paper presents a novel vision-based ini-
tial weld point positioning method for the welding
systems of container manufacture. The new method is
based on the geometric relationship between the two
seams at the two different stages of the whole welding
task such as the initialization stage and the welding
stage. The torch is aligned with the initial weld point
manually at the first stage, and the image feature and
the parameters of the seam line are computed. At the
second stage, the target image feature of the seam line
is firstly computed using the geometric relationship,
then the alignment of the torch is automated based on
the difference between the target and the current image
features. The geometric relationship between the two
seams is analyzed, and then the realization of the new
method including the image processing, the computa-
tion of the parameters of the seam line, and the control
system design is given in detail. Finally, experiments
are well conducted to prove the effectiveness of the
proposed initial weld point positioning method.
Keywords Vision · Vision control · Welding robot ·
Initial weld point positioning · Geometric relationship
Z. Fang (B) · D. Xu · M. Tan
The State Key Laboratory of Management and Control
for Complex Systems, Institute of Automation,
Chinese Academy of Sciences,
Beijing 100190, People’s Republic of China
e-mail: fzaoj@163.com
D. Xu
e-mail: sdxude@yahoo.com
M. Tan
e-mail: tan@compsys.ia.ac.cn
1 Introduction
Welding is widely used in almost every field of the in-
dustry, but the automation level is low at present. More
than 90 % of the welding works are done manually
[1–3]. Even if some welding robots have been adopted
in the factories, most of them work in the so-called
“teaching-and-playback” mode. This mode has strict
requirements for the shape and the position of the
weldments, which prevents wide application of the
welding robots and degrades the weld quality. To im-
prove the automation level, some kinds of sensors need
to be installed in the robots to enable them to measure
the weld seams in real time, and the controllers are
designed effectively to eliminate the tracking errors in
the welding process.
Vision sensor has attracted more and more re-
searchers due to its non-contact feature and high pre-
cision. In the field of welding automation, vision sensor
can be used in three aspects such as the seam tracking
[4–9], the weld pool control [10–12], and the initial weld
point positioning [13–16]. The former two aspects have
been studied extensively, but the research of initial
weld point positioning remains an open problem. Only
a few researches about this aspect have been reported.
In [13], a vision sensor consisting of two lasers and one
camera was used to guide the torch to the initial weld
position based on the two laser stripe lines. This method
assumes that the torch and the camera are at the same
position. But in fact, there is a fixed distance between
the torch and the camera. Aligning the camera to the
initial weld point does not mean that the torch is at
the same point. Thus, this method cannot be directly
applied in the real welding process. In [14–16], an initial
point recognition method based on the image pattern
1536
match was proposed. Two stages, i.e., global and local
match, were used in the process. The big lag between
the torch and the camera is also not considered in this
method.
In this paper, a novel vision-based initial weld point
positioning method is proposed. It is based on the
straight line of the seam and makes best use of the geo-
metric relationship between the two seams at the two
different stages of the welding task. Only two kinds of
information such as the position of the torch read from
the rotary encoder and the image feature of the seam
are necessary. In this new method, the big lag between
the torch and the camera has been considered. When
the initial weld point positioning is finished, it can be
guaranteed that the torch is precisely aligned with the
initial weld point.
The rest of this paper is organized as follows.
Section 2 describes the configuration of the welding sys-
tem. In Section 3, the geometric relationship between
the two seams at the two different stages is analyzed.
The detailed realization of the new proposed initial
weld point positioning method including the initializa-
tion stage and the welding stage is given in Section 4.
Section 5 illustrates the experimental results and
Section 6 concludes this paper.
2 The configuration of the welding system
A typical welding system in the container manufacture
is shown in Fig. 1, which consists of a camera, a welding
torch, a motion mechanism, a rotary encoder and a
proximity switch. The camera is placed ahead of the
torch by a fixed distance in order to reduce the effect
of high temperature and welding splash from the torch.
Its view direction is kept the same as that of the torch.
In this way, the position of the torch with respect
Adjusting
axis
Rotary
encoder
Moving
axis
Welding direction
Torch
Oc
Ot Yc
Yt
Proximity switch Xc
Xt Zc
P1
Zt
S2
θ1 P2
L P3 and P4 on S2 are defined similarly as P1 and P2 .
θ2 P4
S1
P3
Weld plate
Fig. 1 The configuration of the welding system
Int J Adv Manuf Technol (2013) 66:1535–1543
to the seam can be precisely reflected in the image.
The motion mechanism is composed of two axes, i.e.,
moving axis and adjusting axis. They are orthogonal
to each other. Adjusting axis is mounted on the slide
block of the moving axis. The torch and the camera
are mounted on the slide block of the adjusting axis
through a bracket. Moving axis moves the torch and
the camera in the welding direction, which is driven by
a direct current motor. Adjusting axis is used to adjust
the position of the torch to keep it in the seam, which
is driven by a stepper motor. The rotary encoder is
installed on the moving axis measuring the position of
the torch in the welding direction. The proximity switch
is installed at a fixed place of the welding system at the
start position, which is used to ensure that the torch
moves from the original point of the welding system.
3 Analysis of the geometric relationship
between the two seams
To formulate the proposed initial point positioning
method clearly, the whole welding task is divided into
two separate stages, i.e., the initialization stage and the
welding stage. The former stage is carried out only once
for welding the first plate. However, the latter stage
is carried out every time for welding every plate. The
proposed initial point positioning method is based on
the geometric relationship of the two seams at the two
stages. The aim of the initialization stage is to provide
a reference for deducing the relationship between the
position of the torch and the corresponding image fea-
ture of the seam. The working procedures of the two
stages are contrary. For the former stage, the torch is
manually tuned to align with the initial weld point at
first. Then, the image feature and the parameters of the
seam line are acquired. For the latter stage, the target
image feature of the seam is first computed based on
the geometric relationship between the current seam
and that at the former stage. Then, the torch is adjusted
automatically to align with the initial weld point based
on the target and current image features of the seam.
As shown in Fig. 1, S1 is denoted as the seam at the
initialization stage and S2 as one of the seams at the
welding stage. Four points on the two seams are defined
as follows: P1 is the initial weld point of S1 ; P2 is the
feature point on S1 that is imaged by the camera; and
To facilitate the analysis of the geometric relation-
ship between S1 and S2 , two coordinate frames are
established, as shown in Fig. 1. The camera frame
C is established at the optical center of the camera. Its
Z c -axis is aligned with the optical axis of the camera,
Int J Adv Manuf Technol (2013) 66:1535–1543 1537

and the directions of Xc -axis and Yc -axis are the same the position of the torch and the image feature of the
as those of the image plane. The tool frame T is estab- seam is computed similarly as follows:
lished at the tip point of the torch. Its Xt -axis and Yt - ⎧
⎪ (u4 − u0 )zc4
axis are parallel with the adjusting axis and the moving ⎪
⎪ x = − L tan θ2
⎪ t3
⎪ kx
axis, respectively. ⎨
(v4 − v0 )zc4 (5)
Suppose the image coordinates of P2 are (u2 , v2 ), ⎪ yt3 =
⎪
⎪ k
its coordinates in the frame C and the frame T are ⎪
⎪
y
⎩
(xc2 , yc2 , zc2 ) and (xt2 , yt2 , zt2 ), respectively. From the zt3 = zc4 − h
pin hole model of the camera, the image coordinates
where (u4 , v4 ) are the image coordinates of P4 , zc4 is the
of P2 are computed as follows:
z-coordinate of P4 in the frame C, (xt3 , yt3 , zt3 ) are the
⎡ ⎤ ⎡ ⎤⎡ ⎤ coordinates of P3 in the frame T, and θ2 is the angle
u2 kx 0 u0 x c2
between S2 and the Yt -axis.
z c2 ⎣ v 2 ⎦ = ⎣ 0 k y v 0 ⎦ ⎣ y c2 ⎦ (1)
The relationship between the position of the torch
1 0 0 1 z c2
and the corresponding image feature is shown in Fig. 2.
where (kx , k y ) are the two amplification factors of the To make it more clearly, S1 and S2 are placed into the
camera from the image plane to the image coordinates, same image. In the seam image, the intersection point
(u0 , v0 ) is its principal point. of the middle line in the v-axis and the seam line is
The coordinates of P2 in the frame C are trans- defined as the image feature. At the initialization stage,
formed to the coordinates in the frame T by the torch is manually aligned with the initial point P1 .
The corresponding image feature is f2 . At the welding
⎡ ⎤ ⎡ ⎤⎡ ⎤ stage, the position of the seam is changed from S1 to S2 .
xt2 1 00 0 x c2
⎢ yt2 ⎥ ⎢0 10 L⎥ ⎢ y c2 ⎥ The aim of initial point positioning is to automatically
⎢ ⎥=⎢ ⎥⎢ ⎥ (2)
⎣ zt2 ⎦ ⎣0 01 −h⎦ ⎣ zc2 ⎦ adjust the torch to align with P3 . Suppose the target
1 0 00 1 1 image feature of S2 is f4 when the torch is aligned with
P3 , as long as f4 is computed, we can design the control
where L and h are the distance from the origin of system for the initial weld point positioning based on
the frame T to that of the frame C in the Yt and Z t the difference between the target image feature f4 and
directions, respectively. the current image feature of S2 . Thus, the problem
Suppose the coordinates of P1 in the frame T are
(xt1 , yt1 , zt1 ), from the relationship between P1 and P2
in the frame T, we can get
⎡ ⎤ ⎡ ⎤⎡ ⎤
xt2 1 0 0 L tan θ1 xt1
⎢ yt2 ⎥ ⎢0 10 L ⎥ ⎢ yt1 ⎥
⎢ ⎥=⎢ ⎥⎢ ⎥ (3)
⎣ zt2 ⎦ ⎣0 01 1 ⎦ ⎣ zt1 ⎦ P1 P2 S2

1 0 00 1 1 P4 S1
P3
where θ1 is the angle between S1 and the Yt -axis.
From Eq. 1 to Eq. 3, the relationship between the (a)
position of the torch and the image feature of the seam
can be computed when the torch is aligned with the
initial weld point, i.e., the relationship between (u2 , v2 )
and (xt1 , yt1 , zt1 ), which is computed as follows:
f4 f2
⎧
⎪ (u2 − u0 )zc2
⎪
⎪ xt1 = − L tan θ1
⎪
⎪ kx
⎨ S2 S1
(v2 − v0 )zc2 (4)
⎪ yt1 =
⎪
⎪ ky
⎪
⎪
⎩
zt1 = zc2 − h (b)

Fig. 2 The relationship between the position of the torch and the
At the welding stage, suppose the position of the seam image. a the two positions of the torch; b the corresponding
seam changes from S1 to S2 , the relationship between seam image
1538
of initial weld point positioning is converted to the
computation of the target image feature of the seam.
From Fig. 2, it can be seen that there exists geometric
relationship between the two seams S1 and S2 , based
on which we can compute the target image feature
f4 . Obviously, when the torch is aligned with P1 and
P3 , the coordinates of the two points in the frame T
are the same, i.e., xt1 = xt3 , yt1 = yt3 , zt1 = zt3 . The v-
coordinates of image features f2 and f4 are also the
same, i.e., v2 = v4 . From Eqs. 4 and 5, the target image
feature f4 can be computed based on the geometric
relationship of S1 and S2 as follows:
Int J Adv Manuf Technol (2013) 66:1535–1543
reference to deduce the geometric relationship. At the
welding stage, the target image feature is computed
based on the geometric relationship between the two
seams at the two stages. Then, the control system is
designed to make the torch automatically aligned with
the initial weld point. In the following sections, the two
parts of the initial point positioning are given in detail.
4.1 The initialization stage
The initialization stage is conducted only once for weld-

u4 = u2 − L ∗ kz ∗ (tan θ1 − tan θ2 )
(6)
v4 = v2
where kz = kx /zc2 . Since planar weld plate is consid-
ered here, the height of the camera from the weld plate
is changeless, i.e., zc2 is a constant. Thus, kz is a constant
in the whole welding process.
ing the first plate, which is composed of four steps:
(1) aligning the torch manually; (2) image feature
extraction; (3) sample point acquisition; and (4) com-
putation of the parameters of the seam line. The main
steps of this stage are given as follows.
4.1.1 Sample point acquisition

The torch is firstly moved by the moving axis to the

4 Realization of the new initial point proximity switch. Then, it is tuned manually to align
positioning method with the initial weld point. The position of the torch
in the welding direction can be read from the rotary
The proposed initial weld point positioning method is encoder, which is denoted as P B0 . The image feature
composed of two parts, i.e., the initialization stage and of S1 is f2 . The parameters of the seam line in the
the welding stage, as shown in Fig. 3. At the initializa- Cartesian space cannot be computed precisely from
tion stage, the torch is aligned with the initial weld point only one seam image due to the small view filed of
manually. Then, the image feature and the parameters the camera. Thus, a number of sample points along the
of the seam line are computed, which are used as a seam need to be acquired. To do so, the torch is moved
forward from the original point and then is returned.
During this process, sample points are acquired, which
are denoted as (P Bi , F Bi ), (i = 1, 2, · · · , N), where P Bi
Initialization stage Welding stage and F Bi are the position of the torch at the i-th point
Align the torch to the initial Move the torch forward for a and the corresponding image feature of the seam, and
weld point manually fixed distance and return N is the number of the sample points.

Compute the image Compute the parameter

feature f2 θ2 of S2 4.1.2 Image feature extraction

Move the torch forward for a

fixed distance and return
Compute the parameter
θ1 of S1
the current image feature fc
Compute the target Firstly, Gaussian filter and median filter are adopted
image feature f4 to reduce the image noise. Then, the skeleton of the
image is extracted, which consists of the center points
Adjust the torch and get of the seam. They are computed based on the fact that
the gray value of the seam is smaller than that in other
No
parts of the image. The gray value distribution in one
f4=fc ?
row of the image is shown in Fig. 4, in which C p is the
Yes center point of the seam, and hw is the half width of the
End of the initial point seam. From Fig. 4, a robust skeleton detection operator
positioning
is designed as follows:

Fig. 3 The flow chart of the proposed initial point positioning p(i) = arg min c(k, i), (i = 1, 2, · · · , h) (7)
method k
Int J Adv Manuf Technol (2013) 66:1535–1543 1539

α2
Gray α1
value hw

Cp

Seam area Column index

Fig. 4 Gray value distribution in one row of the seam image

Fig. 5 The results of image feature extraction

seam, and the image feature is extracted favorably even

 if there are some disturbances in the image.
c(k, i) = 2 ∗ I(k, i) + I(k + 1, i)

− I(k + α1 , i) + I(k + α2 , i) 4.1.3 Computation of the parameters of the seam line

+ I(k − α1 , i) + I(k − α2 , i) (8) The parameters of the seam line are computed using
the line fitting method. Since they are computed in the
where p(i) is the u-coordinate of the center point of Cartesian space, the image features are firstly mapped
the seam in i-th row; c(k, i) is the gradient value in to the Cartesian space. Then, all the sample points are
k-th point of i-th row; α1 and α2 are two parameters of measured relative to the point (P B0 , F B0 ) as follows:
the new operator, whose values are a little bigger than ⎧
hw , as shown in Fig. 4; and h is the height of the seam ⎨Y Fi = F Bi − F B0
⎪
image. kz (10)
⎪
⎩X = P − P
After the seam skeleton is computed, Hough trans- Pi Bi B0
form is adopted to extract the seam line based on the
where (X Pi , Y Fi ) are the processed sample points rela-
skeleton. Since the seam line is approximately parallel
tive to the point (P B0 , F B0 ).
with the v-axis of the image, the range of θ in the ρ–θ
The parameters of the seam line are computed using
space of Hough transform can be reduced to [−10◦ , 10◦ ]
the processed sample points as follows:
to increase the processing speed. To improve the accu-
⎧
racy of the seam line, least square line fitting technique ⎪ N
⎪
⎪ (Y Fi − Y F )(X Pi − X P )
is employed [10]. ⎪
⎪
⎪
⎨ks = i=1
The intersection point of the middle line in the v-axis  N
(X Pi − X P )2 (11)
of the image and the seam line is referred as the image ⎪
⎪
⎪
⎪ i=1
feature, which is computed as follows: ⎪
⎪
⎩
⎧ b s = Y F − ks X P
⎨ 0.5h − b , if seam line is y = kx + b where N is the number of the sample points, ks and b s
If = k (9)
⎩ are the slope and the intercept of the seam line, and
ph , if seam line is x = ph
X P and Y F are the average coordinates of the sample
where I f is the u-coordinate of the image feature, k and points, which are computed as follows:
⎧
b are the slope and the intercept of the seam line if it is ⎪
⎪ N
not perpendicular to the u-axis of the image, and ph is ⎪
⎪ X Pi
⎪
⎪
the parameter of the seam line if it is perpendicular to ⎪
⎨ P
X =
i=1
N
the u-axis of the image. (12)
⎪
⎪ N
To test the effectiveness of the proposed image fea- ⎪
⎪ Y Fi
⎪
⎪
ture extraction method, a lot of seam images were ⎪
⎩Y F = i=1
processed. The results of image feature extraction for N
one of the images are shown in Fig. 5. It can be seen The collected sample points may contain some er-
that extracted seam line is well coincident with the real roneous or abrupt changing points, which will reduce
1540 Int J Adv Manuf Technol (2013) 66:1535–1543

the precision of the parameters of the seam line. These
points need to be eliminated at first, and then the
parameters of the seam line are computed using the
remaining valid points. The set of the valid points is
determined by
  have been determined. They are kept the same in the

Sv = X Pi , Y F i | di < αd d
where Sv is the set of the valid points, di is the distance
from the point (X Pi , Y Fi ) to the fitted line, d is the
average distance,and αd is a coefficient to compute the
threshold value. di is computed as follows:
|Y Fi − ks X Pi − b s |
di =  (14)
1 + k2s
Based on the set of the valid points, the slope of the
seam line S1 at the initialization stage is computed as
follows:

Nv
(FVi − FV )(PVi − PV )
i=1
tan θ1 =

Nv
(PVi − PV )2
i=1
where (PVi , FVi ) is the i-th point in the set Sv , Nv is
the number of the valid points, and PV and FV are
the average coordinates of the valid points, which are
computed similarly as Eq. 12.
4.2 Welding stage
Welding stage is carried out every time for welding
every weld plate, which is composed of five steps:
(1) image feature extraction; (2) sample point ac-
quisition; (3) computation of the parameters of the
seam line; (4) computation of the target image feature;
(5) and design of the alignment control system. The
former three steps are completed similarly as those at
the initialization stage. Thus, they are omitted here.
The latter two steps are given as follows.
4.2.1 Computation of the target image feature
The target image feature of S2 is computed using the
geometric relationship of Eq. 6. After the initialization
stage is completed, the parameters u2 and tan θ1 in Eq. 6
(13) whole welding task since the relationship between the
torch and the camera is changeless. The parameter
tan θ2 has been determined after the first three steps of
the welding stage. The parameter L is the distance be-
tween the torch and the camera, which can be measured
using the position value of the torch and the camera
read from the rotary encoder. The parameter kz can be
simply calibrated using the following method.
Put a ruler under the camera, and the image is
acquired. Select two points on the ruler, the distance
of the two points in the image can be measured de-
noted as Di . The distance of the two points in the
Cartesian space can be read from the ruler directly,
which is denoted as Dc . The parameter kz is computed
as kz = Di /Dc .
(15)
4.2.2 Closed-loop control of the torch alignment
The diagram of the closed-loop control system of the
initial point positioning is shown in Fig. 6, which con-
sists of three parts such as the computation of the
target and the current image features, the forward con-
troller part. The target image feature f4 is used as the
reference signal in the control system, and the current
image feature fc as the feedback signal. Both of them
are computed in the computer using the seam images
captured from the camera. The time for computing the
target or the current image feature is determined by
a soft switch, which is realized in the programmable
logic controller (PLC). When the switch is put on the
point pr , the target image feature is computed based
on the seam image, the position of the torch read from
the encoder and the geometric model of Eq. 6. On
the other hand, when the switch is put on the point
pc , the current image feature is computed based on

Fig. 6 The diagram of the f4 Seam

initial point positioning PID controller Stepper motor Torch
control system
fc
Stwich
pc Feature extraction Image capture
Geometric model pr

Rotary encoder
Int J Adv Manuf Technol (2013) 66:1535–1543 1541

Table 1 The sample points in one of the experiments

Point no.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14
F Bi (pixel) 352 349 348 346 343 342 341 340 339 338 336 334 332 329
F Bi (mm) 62.55 62.02 61.84 61.48 60.95 60.77 60.59 60.41 60.24 60.06 59.71 59.35 58.99 58.46
FCi (pixel) 392 393 394 395 397 399 400 403 404 407 408 410 410 411
FCi (mm) 69.66 69.84 70.01 70.19 70.54 70.90 71.08 71.61 71.79 72.32 72.50 72.86 72.86 73.03
P Bi (mm) 0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160 180 200 220 240 260
F Bi the feature point at the initialization stage, FCi the feature point in the welding stage, P Bi the position of the torch

the seam image. According to the working principle of The parameters used in the image processing and the
the stepper motor, incremental proportional–integral– geometric model were as follows: the size of the image
differential (PID) controller is used to align the torch was 640 × 512 in pixel, α1 = 6, α2 = 8, the time for
based on the difference between the target and the processing one image was about 52 ms, L = 150 mm,
current image features as shown in Eq. 16. The aligning
process adopts the “look-and-move” control model.
The current image feature is computed and compared 63
with the target image feature. If the difference between Sample points
62.5 Fitted line
them is larger than a threshold value, the adjusting con-
tinues. On the other hand, if the difference is smaller 62

than a threshold value, the adjusting process ends, and 61.5

The feature point (mm)

the initial weld point positioning is finished.

61

u(k) = s∗ K p ∗ [e(k) − e(k − 1)] + Ki ∗ e(k) 60.5

 60
+ Kd ∗ e(k)−2 ∗ e(k−1)+e(k−2) (16)
59.5

where u(k) is the output pulses sent to the stepper 59

motor; s is a mapping factor from the image space to
58.5
the output pulses; and K p , Ki , and Kd are the three
parameters of the PID controller. 58
0 50 100 150 200 250 300
The postion of the torch (mm)
(a)
73.5
5 Experiments and results
Sample points
73 Fitted line
To test the effectiveness of the proposed initial weld
72.5
point positioning method, experiments are well con-
The feature point (mm)

ducted. The experimental setup is shown in Fig. 1. 72

Digital industrial camera DH-HV3151UC-M was used
71.5
as the camera and Omron PLC CP1H as the controller.
Industrial panel computer 3HiPC was used as the main 71

computer. The seam images were transmitted to the 70.5

computer through USB port. The extracted image fea-
tures of the seam were sent to the PLC from the 70

computer through RS232 port. The rotary encoder was 69.5

E6A2-C, whose resolution was 500 pulse/round. The
69
PLC and the computer were mounted in a vision con- 0 50 100 150 200 250 300
trol box. All the parts mentioned above were mounted The postion of the torch (mm)

on a moving vehicle, which moved along two tracks. (b)

The welding speed was about 1,200 mm/min. The seam
Fig. 7 The computation of the parameters of the seam lines at
plate was placed between two pressers, which pressed the two stages: a at the initialization stage and b at the welding
the plate tightly to prevent it from thermal distortion. stage
1542
kz = 5.65, N = 14, and αd = 0.8. The parameters in the
control system design were set as follows: the sample
time was set 60 ms, s = 24 pulse/pixel, the proportional,
integral, and differential gains of the PID controller
were set as 0.4, 0.1, and 0.05, respectively.
To test the effectiveness of the new method, the
initialization stage was firstly completed. Then, the
seam plate was placed with different inclination and the
initial point positioning function was activated. In one
of the experiments, the 14 sample points collected at
the initialization stage and the welding stage are shown
in Table 1. It can be seen that at the initialization stage,
the image feature is 352 when the torch is aligned with
the initial weld point. The results of the computation of
the parameters of the seam line by line fitting method
3
2.5
Position error of the torch (mm)
1.5
1
0.5
0 ufacture. The whole welding task is divided into two
−0.5
−1
0 10
40
Output pulses to the stepper motor (pulse)
20
0 of the initialization stage is to provide a reference to
−20
−40
−60
−80
0 10
Fig. 8 The results of initial weld point positioning. a the position
error changes of the torch in the alignment process, b the output
control pulses
Int J Adv Manuf Technol (2013) 66:1535–1543
are shown in Fig. 7. From Fig. 7, it can be seen that the
extracted seam line in the Cartesian space fits the sam-
ple points very well. The parameters of the seam lines
at the two stages were computed as −0.0136 and 0.0147,
respectively. Using the geometric relationship between
the two seams in Eq. 6, the target image feature of the
current seam line was computed as 376. It can be seen
from Table 1 that the current image feature was 392.
The aim of the initial weld point positioning is to adjust
the position of the torch to make the corresponding
image feature change from the current image feature
to the target one. The results of the torch alignment
using the proposed control system are shown in Fig. 8.
Figure 8a shows the position error changes of the torch
in the alignment process. Figure 8b shows the output
pulses sent to the stepper motor. It can be seen that
the alignment error of the torch is quickly removed
in about 34 control periods, i.e., 2.04 s, which shows
the effectiveness of the proposed alignment control
system.
6 Conclusion
A vision-based initial weld point positioning method
is proposed for the welding systems of container man-
different stages, i.e., the initialization stage and the
welding stage. From deep analysis of the two seams
at the two stages, there exists geometric relationship
20 30 40 50 between the two seams. The initial weld point posi-
Control period
tioning system is designed based on the geometric re-
(a)
lationship. At the initialization stage, there are mainly
four steps to be carried out: (1) the alignment of the
torch manually, (2) image feature extraction, (3) the
acquisition of the sample points, (4) and the computa-
tion of the parameters of the seam line. The function
deduce the geometric relationship. It is carried out only
once for welding the first weld platea in the whole
welding task. At the welding stage, there are mainly
five steps: (a) the image feature extraction, (2) the
acquisition of the sample points, (3) the computation of
the parameters of the seam line, (4) the computation of
the target image feature of the seam line based on the
geometric relationship, (5) and the control of the torch
alignment. The welding stage is carried out every time
20 30 40 50
Control period for welding every weld plate. The detailed realization of
(b) the two stages is given in detail. Experiments are well
conducted to verify the effectiveness of the proposed
initial weld point positioning method. The new method
can improve the automation level of the welding robots.
Int J Adv Manuf Technol (2013) 66:1535–1543
Acknowledgements This work was supported by the National
High Technology Research and Development Program of China
under grant 2006AA04Z213 and in part by the National Natural
Science Foundation of China under grant 60725309.
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