Since the identification of the “manufacturing skills gap” in the United States, which predicts 2.1 million unfilled jobs by 2030, many solutions and technological advancements have been launched to help bridge the gap, the cost of which is estimated to total $1 trillion in 2030. Within the pipe welding industry, specifically, advancements in automation are providing much-needed solutions to the skills gap caused by the acute shortage of skilled welders that are required to meet the demand to build America’s essential infrastructure.
In that regard, Novarc Technologies Inc., a full-stack robotics company specializing in the design and manufacture of cobots and computer vision artificial intelligence (AI) for automated welding applications, has been a pioneer in welding automation since 2013. Upon opening its doors, the company has been dedicated to providing powerful solutions to the welding labor shortage, including its flagship product, the Spool Welding Robot (SWR).
When the SWR was introduced to the market, it was the world’s first collaborative welding robot for automating the pipe welding process. The SWR works alongside a human welder to increase productivity, weld quality and consistency with the ability to potentially recover capital investment within six to 18 months.
Quality in real time
Since launching the SWR, Novarc has invested heavily in accompanying technologies to further support pipe welding applications, including a recent system called NovEye Autonomy Gen2. The new AI machine learning, real-time vision processing system integrates AI algorithms with advanced robotic controls to deliver the highest quality welds with zero operator intervention, maximizing productivity and eliminating errors.
NovEye Autonomy is the result of years of data collected from Novarc’s fleet of SWRs at customer sites in North America, Europe, Middle East and Australia. To bring it to market, Novarc has undergone extensive internal and external testing to ensure all of the features of the system are performing and that the weld quality meets American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) standards to ensure unmatched precision and reliability.
NovEye Autonomy is embedded in the control system of the SWR and controls the weld in exactly the same way as a human welder would, allowing the boring, repetitive welds to be delegated to the robot. The autonomous welding process overcomes real-world pipe fitting inconsistencies like HiLo and varying root gaps and can immediately detect and adapt welding parameters to maintain weld integrity.
“NovEye Autonomy is the only AI machine learning real-time vision processing system that constantly improves welds based on data collection and model enhancement,” says Soroush Karimzadeh, Novarc’s co-founder and CEO. “Now, a welder can deliver X-ray-quality welds with zero operator intervention while easily handling various root gaps en route to multi-pass and multi-layer automated welding due to NovEye Autonomy’s sophisticated AI and powerful hardware.”
Real-world results
NovEye Autonomy utilizes live-stream video from the camera mounted on the SWR’s torch to analyze the scene and detect welding states. Based on these detected states, the AI adjusts welding and motion parameters in real time.
“NovEye Autonomy continuously improves through our terabyte-scale library of welding videos, ensuring unmatched precision and reliability,” Karimzadeh says. “This accomplishment is the result of years of data collected through machine learning, and we are extremely excited to be able to offer this solution to the welding industry.”
Pitt Meadows Plumbing and Mechanical Systems, a mechanical contractor specializing in large-scale projects, has been testing NovEye Autonomy and is very happy with the progress in automation the technology provides.
“We knew NovEye Autonomy was a big deal when one of our operators forgot he was welding and walked away from the machine,” says Sam Revel, director of industrialized construction at Pitt Meadows. “It’s been fantastic to collaborate with Novarc on another industry-defining evolution.”
Revel’s experience with NovEye Autonomy is proof positive of the impact Novarc’s development will have on fabricators and contract manufacturers worldwide. Held to strict standards to provide sophisticated welds for industries such as aerospace, food and beverage, mining, energy, pharmaceutical, shipbuilding, chemical processing, and water treatment and desalination, all of these industries stand to benefit from the consistent and X-ray-quality welds that result from the engineering features and advanced AI provided by NovEye Autonomy.
Worldwide solution
From a practical standpoint, NovEye Autonomy can easily integrate into the existing manufacturing processes of customers in a range of industries. The SWR with NovEye Autonomy is designed with a very small footprint, but a very long reach, enabling it to fit in almost all fabrication shops and easing the process of adopting automation.
This ease of adoption is critical as automation is serving as a major milestone for the welding industry to combat labor shortages, but also to dramatically reduce human exposure to welding hazards. Specific to the SWR, the operator is positioned several meters away from the welding arc and fumes. With NovEye Autonomy, operators program the weld, then observe the weld away from the arc, reducing the risk of exposure to dangerous fumes and radiant heat. As well, muscle fatigue is reduced as the welding process is fully automated: ultimately, a win-win for the welder and the pipe shop.
“NovEye Autonomy is truly hands-free welding,” Karimzadeh says. “It has the ability to change welding parameters and torch manipulation in real time all based on the current joint geometry.”
Novarc’s SWR is currently sold in North America, Europe, Australia and the Middle East. The message consistently received from each of these markets is that “qualified welders are hard to find.”
Fortunately, however, NovEye Autonomy is solving the worldwide issue that fabrication shops are currently facing when looking for qualified welders. Because NovEye Autonomy does not require the operator to be a highly skilled welder, fabricators can hire and train inexperienced operators. After some basic training on how to operate the SWR, an operator can oversee a piece of equipment that can make X-ray-quality welds in a fraction of the time and at a fraction of the cost of highly experienced manual welding, which, again, is near to impossible to find in some markets.
Providing a solution to the skills gap, NovEye Autonomy allows less skilled welders to do more sophisticated welds and makes welding more attractive to young people considering the profession. It’s all good news for paving a path to automation.
Pitt Meadows Plumbing and Mechanical Systems
