ROBOTICS VS MANUAL WELDING
LESSON PLAN OVERVIEW
Career: Welders, cutters, solderers, and brazers use hand-held or remotely controlled equipment to join or cut metal parts using heat to melt and fuse metal pieces to form a permanent bond. Welders work in shipbuilding, automobile manufacturing, building construction, aviation and aerospace development, and thousands of other industries.
Lesson: This lesson plan provides activities for students to learn about manual welding and robotic welding and how they are used in the workplace. Students will then test their welding skills by designing and “welding” a structure together using glue and testing its strength.
Grade Level: High School
Learning Objectives:
〉 Students will explore the career of welding by learning some of the basics of welding.
〉 Students will identify the types of welding and learn when to use robotic vs manual welding.
〉 Students will test their skills by designing and constructing a popsicle stick tower and testing its strength.
〉 Students will gain an insight into the welder profession, including common job tasks, salary, career pathway, and credentials required to perform the job.
Materials Needed:
Activity #1: Robotic Welding vs Manual Welding
〉 Student Worksheet: What is Welding?
〉 Optional - bring in one or two things that have been welded (bicycle, skateboard, etc.) for students to see the welding joints and seams before looking for things in the classroom that are welded
Activity #2: The Strength of Welding
〉 Student Worksheet: The Art of Welding
〉 Popsicle sticks
〉 Hot glue gun
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Robotic Welding vs Manual
#2: The Art of Welding
〉 Strength testing items: a range of light to heavy objects (pen, rubber eraser, highlighter, hand-held calculator, stapler, book, etc.)
〉 Ruler for measuring the height of student towers
TEACHER GUIDE
Lesson Instructions: The following activities will help you introduce students to basic concepts and processes used in welding. Begin the lesson by reading the Class Message below to your students, then have them watch the recommended career video. Afterwards, facilitate a discussion using the Class Questions listed below.
After the discussion, students will work on two activities. Each activity has a printable worksheet with student instructions and areas to record their work. Have students read their worksheets before beginning each activity.
You should also familiarize yourself with the student worksheets to provide assistance when needed, help demonstrate any procedures, and help in facilitating the discussion that ends each activity.
Class Message: Today, we are going to learn about the welding profession. Can any of you tell me what welders do? Welders joins two or more pieces of metal together using heat to reinforce the strength of the object.
Welding is the most common way of permanently joining metal parts. Heat is applied to metal pieces with welding equipment, melting and fusing the pieces to form a permanent bond. Because of the strength of the bonds, welding is used in shipbuilding, automobile manufacturing and repair, aviation and aerospace, and many other manufacturing industries. Welding is also used to join steel beams in the construction of buildings, bridges, and other structures and to join pipes in pipelines, power plants, and refineries.
In this lesson, you will learn what welders do by learning about the different types of welding and welding materials and the industries that use welding. You will then simulate using welding by designing and constructing a tower and testing its strength.
Let’s watch this short video to learn more about welding careers.
Class Discussion Questions:
〉 Can you think of some things at home or school that might have been welded together? - Response suggestions: car, trailer, appliances, desks, metal shelves, other objects made using welding.
〉 What industries do you think would use welders? - Response suggestions: automotive, railroad, aeronautics, construction, etc.
〉 What would robotic welders do in the automotive industry? - Response suggestions: welds metal parts of an automobile together, such as car frames, axles, engine components, etc.
Activities Overview: This lesson plan includes two student activities. Activity #1 challenges students to determine which type of welding to use for each scenario - manual welding or robotic welding. In Activity #2, students will test their welding skills by designing and “welding” a structure and testing its strength.
Read and familiarize yourself with the student worksheet for each activity
Activity #1: Robotic Welding vs Manual Welding
Students will learn about different types of manual and robotic welding and determine which type of welding to perform for each scenario.
Activity Instructions:
〉 Hand out the activity worksheet.
〉 Introduce the activity and guide students as needed.
〉 After completion, facilitate a discussion using the questions for the activity.
Activity Results: This activity introduces students to manual and robotic welding and challenges students to identify the best welding method for the given scenario.
Welding Scenario
Jessica is a pipefitter for a Gas & Refinery plant. What type of welding would she use in this industry?
Jim is an artist and wants to start creating metal sculptures. What welding method should Jim use?
Matthew works on an assembly line in a plant that requires spot welding to assemble the product. What type of welding should he use?
Brant owns a small motor repair shop. What type of welding should he use to repair his customers’ motors?
Welding Method to Use
TIG welding
MIG welding
Robotic welding
Stick welding
Activity Discussion:
〉 What are some advantages and disadvantages of using robotic welding?Sample answers may include: Advantages – consistency of weld, saves time by automating, and can produce non-stop. Disadvantages –cost of equipment and lack of flexibility – only does one thing.
〉 What types of welders are used in aerospace and why? - Sample answers may include: Gas Tungsten Arc Welding (GTAW) or TIG welding because it gives a stronger, higher quality weld.
〉 Why do you think welding is important?Sample answers may include: it strengthens metal products to make them safer; because so many things made of metal have been welded together.
Activity #2: The Strength of Welding
Students will design and “weld” together popsicle sticks to build a tower that will support weight and test its strength.
Activity Instructions:
〉 Hand out the activity worksheet.
〉 Divide students into groups.
〉 Provide students with popsicle sticks and a glue gun. Give each group the same number of sticks, approximately 40. You can use also use cardboard – try to give each group the same amount.
〉 Introduce the activity and guide students as needed.
〉 Have each team of students design and build a tower that will hold a small weight, such as a calculator, stapler or other object. The tower should be constructed from the materials supplied by the teacher using a hot glue gun to simulate the welding process. The winning team will be the team whose tower can hold the heaviest object at the greatest height.
〉 Use a ruler to measure the height of students’ towers
〉 After completion, facilitate a discussion using the questions for the activity.
Activity Results: This activity helps students understand the basics of welding by simulating the welding process and testing the strength of the weld.
Activity Discussion:
〉 How was this activity similar to welding? - Sample answers may include: we were able to use the glue gun as a welding device to build a structure; we tested the structure to ensure its strength.
〉 Which tower design was the strongest and why? - Allow students to share their experience.
〉 How could you have made your structure stronger? - Allow students to share their experience.
〉 Was this activity fun? Do you think you would like a job making things using welding? Why or why not?
CAREER INSIGHT
Career Highlight: This lesson plan highlights some of the concepts and skills welders use daily to weld materials together. See the Employers in My Area section to contact businesses and organizations in your area about classroom demonstrations, onsite visits, or other additional career exposure opportunities.
Featured Career:
Welders, Cutters, Solderers, and Brazers
Career Descriptions: Welders use handwelding or flame-cutting equipment to weld or join metal components or to fill holes, indentations, or seams of fabricated metal products.
Welders, cutters, solderers, and brazers typically do the following:
〉 Study blueprints, sketches, or specifications
〉 Calculate the dimensions of parts to be welded
〉 Inspect structures or materials to be welded
〉 Ignite torches or start power supplies
〉 Monitor the welding process to avoid overheating
〉 Maintain equipment and machinery
Welding is the most common way of permanently joining metal parts. In this process, heat is applied to metal pieces, melting and fusing them to form a permanent bond. Because of its strength, welding is used in shipbuilding, automobile manufacturing and repair, aerospace applications, and thousands of other manufacturing activities. Welding also is used to join steel beams in the construction of buildings, bridges, and other structures and to join pipes in pipelines, power plants, and refineries.
Other Names for this Career: Fabrication Welder, Fabricator, Fitter/Welder, Welder, Welder/Fabricator, Maintenance Welder, Aluminum Welder, Sub Arc Operator, Welder-Fitter, MIG Welder (Metal Inert Gas Welder)
EDUCATOR RUBRIC
ITEM Does Not Meet Expectations Meets Expectations Exceeds Expectations
Activity #1 Robotic vs Manual Welding
Student did not complete the worksheet leaving some answers incomplete.
Activity #2: The Strength of Welding
Activity Discussions
Students built structure with lack of attention to detail and/or failed to properly record the results of strength tests on their tower.
Student completed the worksheet including the discussion questions to a high degree of accuracy.
Students structure demonstrated a clear attempt at welding and students adequately recorded the results of their experiment.
Student did not participate in the activity discussion .
Student actively participated in the activity discussions
Student completed the worksheet including the discussion questions to a high degree of accuracy and consistently added depth to their answers.
Students structure demonstrated clear attention to detail. Students recorded the results of their experiment in great detail including mass of objects tested and the efficiency of their tower.
Student actively participated in the activity discussion and referenced the digital videos and the written text in providing detailed answers.
Teamwork
Student struggled to participate and share responsibility in the group work environment.
Student worked well in a team environment.
Student worked well in a team environment and exhibited group leadership skills.
ACTIVITY #1: ROBOTIC VS. MANUAL WELDING
Introduction: Welding is the most common way of joining metal parts together. Heat is applied to metal pieces, melting and joining them to form a strong bond. Many of the metal products we use have been welded in some form or fashion.
Activity Description: Read the information on types of welding below and then recommend the best welding method to use for each of the scenarios described on the next page.
Welding is the process of fusing materials together using heat. If metal is heated to a high temperature, it will melt and can be bonded with another piece of metal. Sounds simple, but there is much more to welding than just adding heat.
Welding is both a skill and an art Welders take raw metal materials and use heat to make things. Welding is found most often in manufacturing industries where both manual and robotic welders are used to build products like cars, airplanes, boilers, and household appliances that must be strong enough to withstand stress
Take a look at this video for a more detailed view of what happens during welding:
〉 What Is Welding? (http://tn-caps.com/r/92WL1)
View one of these videos to help understand the different types of manual welding:
〉 The differences between TIG vs MIG vs Stick Welding (http://tn-caps.com/r/92WL2)
〉 MIG vs. TIG vs. STICK Welding (http://tn-caps.com/r/92WL3)
View one of these demonstration videos to help you understand robotic welding:
〉 Robots Building Cars: (http://tn-caps.com/r/92WL4)
〉 Robotic MIG Welding Cell: (http://tn-caps.com/r/92WL5)
〉 Steel Beam Dual Robotic Welding: (http://tn-caps.com/r/92WL6)
Now that you know a little more about welding, let’s take a closer look at the three most common types of welding and the materials that are used for each process.
Shielded Metal Arc Welding (SMAW) or stick welding is the most basic form of welding. Stick welding uses a consumable electrode. Welding electrodes are metal rods that have a chemical coating, or flux. An electric arc is formed between the electrode and the metals to be joined. The workpiece and the electrode melt forming a weld pool that cools to form a joint. As the weld bead is laid, the flux coating of the electrode disintegrates, giving off vapors that serve as a shielding gas to protect the weld area from atmospheric contamination. Stick welding is used on iron, steel, nickel, and copper alloys mainly for maintenance and repair in the construction, pipeline, shipbuilding, and farming industries.
Gas Metal Arc Welding (GMAW) or MIG welding is another common welding method. With this method, spooled wire is used as an electrode. The wire wraps around the spool, carrying a current while also providing filler wire for the weld. This process relies on argon or carbon dioxide as a shielding gas. The shielding gas works to keep impurities from the weld area. MIG welding uses aluminum and steel and is found in the automotive, pipefitting, and railroad industries.
Gas Tungsten Arc Welding (GTAW) or TIG welding is an arc welding process that uses a non-consumable tungsten electrode to produce the weld. The weld area and electrode are protected from contamination by the use of argon or helium. TIG is most commonly used to weld thin sections of stainless steel, aluminum, magnesium, and copper alloys. The operator has greater control over the weld and allows for a stronger, higher quality weld. TIG welding is more complex and difficult to master and is more expensive to use. TIG welding is used in the aerospace and oil and gas industries.
Robot Welding is the use of programmable machines which perform the welding tasks and handle the product parts. Robot welding is commonly used for resistance spot welding and arc welding in high volume production applications, such as the automotive industry.
The use of robots in welding did not take off until the 1980s, when the automotive industry began using robots extensively for spot welding. Since then, both the number of robots used in industry and the number of their applications has grown greatly. Growth is primarily limited by the high cost of robotic equipment.
There are several advantages to automating a factory with welding robots, including faster, consistent cycle times, no break in production, and better weld quality. By using robotic welders, the process takes less time, and manufacturers can reduce the costs of human labor. Unlike their human counterparts, robot welders don’t tire and can perform the same tasks over and over 24 hours a day.
Robotic welding cells provide an even safer work environment, dramatically reducing eyedamaging arc glare, overspray, and direct contact with the robot and part. A robot welder is more consistent and can move from one weld to the next quickly, speeding up the entire process.
Activity Procedure: Recommend the best welding method to use in each of the scenarios below. Choose from Stick welding, MIG welding, TIG welding, or Robotic welding.
Welding Scenario
Jessica is a pipefitter for a Gas & Refinery plant. What type of welding would she use in this industry?
Jim is an artist and wants to start creating metal sculptures. What welding method should he use?
Matthew works on an assembly line in a plant that requires spot welding to assemble their product. What type of welding should he use?
Brant owns a small motor repair shop. What type of welding should he use to repair his customers’ motors?
Activity Discussion:
Welding Method to Use
〉 What do you think are some advantages and disadvantages of using robotic welding?
〉 What types of welders are used in aerospace and why?
〉 Why do you think welding is important?
ACTIVITY #2: THE STRENGTH OF WELDING
Introduction: In teams, you will test your skills by designing and welding a structure together and test its strength.
Activity Description: In teams, students will design a tower to hold a weight and then use popsicle sticks to build a model by “welding” the pieces together using glue guns. After the models have dried, students will test the strength of their designs by placing a range of light to heavy objects on top of their towers and recording the results.
Scenario: You are a team of welders who have been tasked to create a tower to hold a cell phone antenna. Your task is to make the tallest tower that weighs the least, but can hold the most weight.
Activity Procedure:
〉 In teams, discuss and design the structure for your tower.
〉 Use popsicle sticks and hot glue to simulate the welding process in building the tower
〉 Once the glue has set, test the strength of the tower by placing test objects on top starting from light to heavy. Document the results of your tests below.
〉 The best tower is the tallest which can bear the most weight.
〉 Present your tower to the class and the outcome of the strength tests.
Activity Discussion:
〉 How was this activity similar to welding?
〉 Which tower design worked the best and why?
〉 How could you have made your structure stronger?
〉 Was this activity fun? Do you think you would like a job making things using welding? Why or why not?
