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Welding Technology

How Laser Seam Tracking Works in Robotic Welding

Tactile seam finding versus laser line scanning, compared on speed, accuracy and resilience to thermal distortion.

Robentex Engineering

Close-up of a laser seam tracking sensor
In heavy fabrication, cutting and bending tolerances never perfectly match the theoretical CAD model. On thick plates and long seams, thermal expansion reshapes the workpiece during welding.

Laser seam tracking projects a triangulation-based laser line ahead of the torch. The optical sensor continuously computes the joint cross-section, root gap and misalignment angle.

The resulting coordinate corrections stream to the robot controller in real time. The robot follows the seam live while adapting parameters to the measured gap.