The Evolution of Motoman Arc Welding Robots

Motoman Robot­ics has been build­ing robots since 1977. Over the last 35+ years, they have done every­thing they can to improve upon those weld­ing robots to ensure that their cus­tomers have the best robot­ic weld­ing sys­tem avail­able. As Motoman arc weld­ing robots have evolved, they have def­i­nite­ly become more spectacular.

The Begin­ning

Let’s go back in time to the late 1970s – dis­co was in full swing, hair was sky high, and Motoman Robot­ics released its first weld­ing robot (also its first robot ever), the Motoman L‑10. While it was not as easy to pro­gram as a Motoman robot of today, the L‑10 was rev­o­lu­tion­ary for Motoman, and its five axes of move­ment was a break­through for the com­pa­ny – lead­ing to larg­er accom­plish­ments down the road.

Mov­ing into the fast-paced 1980s and 1990s, robot­ic automa­tion real­ly began to pick up, and so did the evo­lu­tion of the Motoman weld­ing robot. From 1982 – 1985, Motoman released three new weld­ing robots – the L10W, the L10WA, and the L106. The 1990s brought the K‑series, the SK-series and the UP-series of robots, all with improved work­loads, axis move­ment and con­trollers. How­ev­er, it was the 2000s that real­ly start­ed to bring expert arc weld­ing to the Motoman Robot­ics forefront.

From 2001 until today, Motoman has evolved their arc weld­ing robot automa­tion more than ever before. Expert, Super Speed, Ver­sa­tile and Mas­ter – these are the names of this improved gen­er­a­tion of Motoman arc welder.

Expert Arc

Con­sid­ered Motoman’s first appli­ca­tion-spe­cif­ic robots, the ​“Expert Arc” EA1400 and EA1900 robots arrived in 2001.

These arc weld­ing robots had sleek 6‑axis builds and inte­grat­ed through-arm cabling. They were capa­ble of exact, speedy move­ment. Their 3kg pay­loads and +/- 0.08mm repeata­bil­i­ty were well-suit­ed for arc weld­ing. (These design fea­tures and per­for­mance capa­bil­i­ties remained Motoman arc weld­ing stand­bys, even as the man­u­fac­tur­er con­tin­ued to devel­op oth­er aspects.) The EA1400 pro­vid­ed a reach of 1388mm, the EA1900 a reach of 1893mm. They were designed to work with the XRC controller.

In 2004, Motoman rein­tro­duced the EA Series with a brand new con­troller. The new and improved EA1400N and EA1900N now worked with the NX100 con­troller. The reach of the EA1400N and EA1900N was extend­ed slight­ly to 1390mm and 1904mm and a cou­ple of the main axis speeds increased. The EA1800N, a heav­ier-pay­load (15kg) mod­el, was also added to the series.

Super Speed Arc

A few years lat­er, Motoman came out with the SSA ​“Super Speed” arc weld­ing robot. At first glance this robot seems much like the EA1400N. After all, it has a 3kg pay­load, 1,390mm reach, NX100 con­troller, and six axes of flex­i­bil­i­ty. But looks can be deceiv­ing. The SSA2000 is capa­ble of 15% faster weld­ing cycle times than its predecessors.

How is this achieved? The SSA2000 is equipped with pow­er­ful gear reduc­ers which increase axis speeds by as much as 40%. Motoman spe­cial­ly designed this robot to pro­vide faster ​“air cut” times. The weld­ing itself does not speed up, but the move­ment between welds does.

Ver­sa­tile Arc

Speed was­n’t enough. The next robot need­ed to be super flex­i­ble as well. With the VA1400 ​“Ver­sa­tile Arc” robot, Motoman chal­lenged the basic tenets of indus­tri­al robot design. This arc weld­ing robot has sev­en (not six) axes of movement.

This sev­enth, E‑axis, gives the robot­ic arm an elbow-like joint. Not only does the VA1400 have bet­ter part acces­si­bil­i­ty, it has the flex­i­bil­i­ty to always keep the weld­ing torch in the opti­mal posi­tion. Plus, the VA1400 boasts axis speeds that are even faster than the SSA2000.

Mas­ter Arc 

Motoman intro­duced the MA ​“Mas­ter Arc” robot series towards the end of 2009. A return to 6‑axis design, the MA series pro­vides more options, with five stan­dard robot mod­els: MA1400, MA1650T, MA1800, MA1900, and MA3100, as well as a ceiling/​wall versions.

This large robot fam­i­ly offers axis speeds faster than the SSA2000, two extend­ed reach ver­sions (MA1900 and MA3100), a large pay­load mod­el (MA1800), as well as slim­mer pro­files and unbeat­able dexterity.

Look­ing into the Future

While the Mas­ter Arc series seems hard to beat, it is unlike­ly that Motoman’s quest for the per­fect arc weld­ing robot is over. In the mean­time, if you’re inter­est­ed in pur­chas­ing any of the Motoman arc weld­ing robots men­tioned here, con­tact Robots​.com online or at 877−762−6881.