Motoman Robotics: Advanced Welding Robots Powering U.S. Defense Projects

Motoman Robotics is a leader in the welding industry. Motoman welding robots work within several industries from automotive to consumer goods to beverages. These welders have even been deployed to work on welding military vehicles for the U.S. Defense Department.

Several contractors around the United States use a number of Motoman welding robots for defense-related projects, including providing welding for the turrets of armored vehicles and the machining of aircraft landing gear.

Contactors use Motoman welders because they yield high-quality welds, which increases the superiority of the end product. These Motoman welding solutions also provide the quality control required for defense-level products and vehicles.

As mentioned above, one Motoman welding system was designed to weld aluminum turret bases for U.S. military vehicles.

As the need for vehicles increases for the military, the Defense Department and its contractors are looking for ways to increase production of these turret bases, a piece vital for the protection of the vehicle when in hostile environments. Turret bases hold gun turrets for U.S. military armored vehicles – these gun turrets and the arms they contain are essential for convoy protection when crossing enemy terrain.

Defense contractors wanted to better than double their production rate per hour, from one part per hour to two or more parts per hour. These parts required 75 welds each, which included many multi-pass welds and gaps. They also wanted to achieve a 0.03mm repeatability and decrease the production downtime. The only answer for heightened production was Motoman welding.

Motoman welders, like the UP20M, can achieve this level of repeatability, speed and accuracy. The Motoman welding robot also has significant reach and flexibility, which allows it to weld on both sides of a system.

By choosing Motoman robot welding for these turret bases, the defense contractors were able to achieve the decreased cycle times and enhance their production while also reducing their downtime and training time. They upped daily production from 5-7 turret bases a day, to 20-25 parts per day, making their use of Motoman welders an all-around success.

RobotWorx, a certified integrator for Motoman Robotics, has several Motoman welding robot options available for purchase and customization. RobotWorx will help customers design the perfect system for their welding application.