Remote Manufacturing Redefines the Skilled Workforce

New technology enables welders to work without being on-site

By Connie LaMorte and Paul Blomquist

CONNIE LAMORTE is principal engineer, automation & Tele-Manufacturing, and PAUL BLOMQUIST is business development director, EWI, Columbus, Ohio. BLOMQUIST is also senior technical advisor, Center for Naval Metalworking, Summerville, S.C.

Reprinted with permission: The AWS Welding Journal

American industry has a rich history of embracing innovation. The advent of remote work is moving the manufacturing industry toward the future, helping it to define Industry 5.0. Evolving Tele-Manufacturing™ technologies are transforming the skilled human workforce and redefining it for the next revolution in industry. The shift toward a remote workforce is a defining trend that started long before it was validated by the response to the COVID-19 pandemic. In the medical field, for example, teleoperated robotic surgery has been a viable method for more than two decades. In teleoperation, the cognitive skills of humans can be integrated with the physical abilities of a robot (Ref. 1). This technology, once used for one type of surgery, now has more than 70 clinical uses, and more than 55,000 surgeons have adapted from performing procedures in-person to now instantly operating on patients in other countries (Ref. 2).

The manufacturing industry is similarly adapting to new technology and a changing workforce. Traditional shift work on factory floors may be replaced by a vision of interconnected systems managed by skilled people working from the comfort of their homes at any time of the day. Automation must seamlessly transition from systems to tools as the workforce integrates with machinery in innovative ways.

Tele-Manufacturing

Tele-Manufacturing is a new way to enable skilled workers to perform their jobs remotely. Using haptic control devices and real-time livestreaming video, a worker is immersed into a manufacturing process that is occurring at another location. A collaborative robot (cobot) or other form of automation at the manufacturing site responds in real time to the operator’s movement of a stylus. Even though the process is remote, the operator is 100% in control. The functionalities of telepresence platforms enable different levels of presence to be achieved in remote environments (Ref. 3). To enable Tele-Manufacturing, each manufacturing process is converted differently to respect its uniqueness in the remote environment. EWI, Columbus, Ohio, has been working within Tele-Manufacturing over the past few years by developing technology for Tele-Welding™, Tele-Inspection™, Tele-Gouging™, and other telecontrolled manufacturing processes.

Using technology to immerse a welder into a remote environment by use of visual and haptic feedback tools can solve worker and workplace challenges. Experienced welders can stay in the workforce longer. Disabled workers can reenter the workforce sooner because certain disabilities will not impair their ability to teleweld. Specialized skills can be matched to tasks across different physical locations, enabling more-efficient use of the available workforce. Young workers may embrace manufacturing as a career choice when presented with a high-tech, cleaner, and more comfortable environment.

Although the main goals for the development of a Tele-Welding system included welder safety and comfort, a more encompassing goal became clear: to develop technology that allows anyone anywhere to participate in the manufacturing workforce without being on the actual jobsite. Tele-Welding was EWI’s first foray into Tele-Manufacturing. Tele-Welding transforms the traditional manual or semiautomated welding operation into a high-tech process through the unconventional use of conventional automation. An operator uses a local haptic stylus to control a remote cobot, which makes all welding motions. The operator is free to move the cobot and attached welding torch in any direction or orientation and at any speed. This free movement allows an experienced manual welder to directly transfer expertise in speed, motion, and weave pattern from the stylus device to the welding torch. The worker receives feedback from the welding operation and the surrounding environment through welding sensors, arc view cameras, and a real-time, live-streamed video of the entire process. A commercially available arc monitoring camera allows the operator to view the placement of the electrode and the process as the arc ignites and welding begins. The haptic responses felt through holding the stylus device are dynamically programmed to give the user the traditional feel of touching or bumping into the material surface and other objects within the immediate welding environment. As these technologies operate together, the operator views and listens to the livestream and moves the stylus device based on this real-time information.

EWI has demonstrated a beta version of Tele-Welding in several situations. Entry-level welders and expert welders have used the Tele-Welding system and produced acceptable multipass welds.

Tele-Gouging

A Tele-Manufacturing application for the carbon arc gouging process was developed specifically to remove the operator from the environment. Arc gouging is used to remove an existing weld or to quickly remove large amounts of surface material to prepare a surface for another process. For the manual operator, arc gouging is more challenging than traditional arc welding because the high-pressure airflow used to blow the molten metal is noisy and creates significant molten debris. The PPE required to operate this equipment is extensive, adding to the reasons facilities like steel foundries struggle to find skilled arc gouging operators or people willing to learn this skill. Arc gouging is typically less precise than cutting methods but has a much higher material removal rate, which requires a higher amount of operator intervention.

To convert manual gouging to Tele-Gouging, EWI modified its Tele-Welding system for controlling a cobot arm and created custom fixturing to manipulate the arc gouging electrode. The teleoperator can control the electrode in all orientations, speeds, and positions depending on their skill level and preference. In practice, the company discovered that the ability to quickly set an electrode feed rate and allow the cobot to automatically control that motion made the gouging process even more user friendly. While operators can opt to take back control of the electrode feed rate at any time, they remain responsible for guiding and activating the movement of the cobot by using the haptic input device and viewing the video from an arc monitoring camera.

Tele-Inspection

After a materials joining or a material removal process, inspection on some level may be required. Quickly after teleoperating the welding process, traditional nondestructive examination (NDE) — usually performed manually by certified technicians — is combined with remote automation to enable Tele-Inspection. Tele-Inspection allows skilled NDE technicians to inspect welds, surfaces, or corroded areas remotely, allowing inspections to be performed in difficult-to-reach locations or in environments dangerous to human health. Tele-Inspection using phased-array ultrasonic testing (PAUT) was developed by EWI and demonstrated for aerospace components, followed by Tele-Inspection using eddy current to assess corrosion mitigation techniques on a U.S. naval test ship. Each NDE method required specific adaptations to become telecontrolled. Different environmental sensors and different motion transformation schemes were needed to immerse an NDE technician into a remote inspection environment. In all the NDE methods that have been converted for teleoperation, the operator and the inspection process are integrated with the automation in unique ways to accomplish the inspection.

Summary

The overarching intent of developing methods that allow telecontrol of a process is to advance technology and equipment that enable workers to remain or become fully productive in manufacturing. Previous developments of telecontrol of live arc processes and Tele-Inspection using NDE technologies have shown the diversity of operations that may be performed via teleoperation. Teleoperation has evolved into a field combining different technologies and allowing users to have realistic perceptions of immersion in remote environments (Ref. 4). Looking forward, Tele-Manufacturing brings the concept of telecommuting to the trades and other manually intensive jobs. Manufacturing efficiency will improve when workers with specialized skills can be matched with jobs in different locations. Tele-Manufacturing will be part of Industry 5.0 as the traditional confines of the workplace are being redefined and automation hardware becomes a tool in the hands of skilled remote workers. WJ

Acknowledgments
The Tele-Welding work was conducted under a contract from the National Shipbuilding Research Program focused on Navy shipbuilding technology.
The Tele-Gouging work was conducted under a contract from Steel Founders’ Society of America focused on improving foundry processes. This research was sponsored by the Defense Logistics Agency Troop Support, Philadelphia, Pa., and the Defense Logistics Agency Information Operations, J68, Research & Development, Ft. Belvoir, Va.
The Tele-Inspection work was conducted under a contract focused on maintenance, repair, and overhaul (MRO) with the Ohio Department of Development regarding MRO.
The Tele-Inspection work with eddy current was for cold spray repair and was a demonstration selected by the Naval Communications Security Material System to be included at the inaugural Repair Technology Engagement Exercise to demonstrate technologies aboard the U.S. Navy’s Self Defense Test Ship. This event, held at Naval Base Ventura County in Ventura County, Calif., was sponsored by the NAVSEA Technology Office and provided an opportunity to showcase technologies that can solve fleet expeditionary maintenance and battle-related support requirements.

References

Fig. 1 — An operator performs a gas metal arc weld using the Tele-Welding system. The operator is remote from the robot and process.