Image credit: Yaskawa America Inc.

The Motoman Robotics Division of Yaskawa America, Inc. has announced the AccuFast II, a new economical laser-based seam finder for Yaskawa Motoman’s arc welding robot line. The AccuFast II uses a non-contact point laser to quickly and accurately locate welding seams, greatly reducing cycle times by removing the need to cut the weld wire and eliminating wire deflection.

The Accufast II is compact and mounted in-line with the welding torch. The sensor uses the same input and output signals as traditional touch sense, allowing it to be easily retrofitted into existing robot installations. Macro job routines simplify programming by providing a single instruction in the robot job for detecting a seam or feature. The laser sensor is housed in an enclosure with a pneumatic shutter to protect it from the harsh welding environment.

In addition to AccuFast II, Yaskawa Motoman offers sensing technologies, ranging from cost-effective thru-wire touch sensors to cutting-edge laser and vision systems.