Machine-Human Cooperative Control of Welding Process

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This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5).The objective of this research is to (1) use a machine to enhance a manual welding process that is currently operated and controlled by a human welder and (2) establish the foundation for the resultant machine-human cooperative control of the welding process with a welder in loop. The approach is to (1) take advantage of human welder?s natural movement to facilitate automatic process monitoring for the weld pool surface; (2) model how a human welder responds to the welding process; (3) model how the welding process responds to human welder actions; and (4) formulate a machine-human cooperative control scheme in which a machine algorithm determines, based on model prediction of human and process responses, adjustments to the human welder controlled process. Welding is a critical capability that the United States must maintain through either automation or stabilization of qualified labor force. The proposed cooperative control provides an effective and innovative way to help stabilize, improve, and enhance this labor force. It will also establish the foundation for a next generation welding machine and potentially inspirit inventions in other manufacturing/industrial sectors. The multi-disciplinary nature of the proposed research and collaboration with industry will provide opportunities to train next generation academic and manufacturing experts/researchers in a wide range of areas.