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Mobile Robot System for Optimal Towing Welding Cables on Walls

Kazuya Oguma,Yoshito Okada,Hirokazu Fujimoto,Kenichi Murano,Haruhiko Eto,K. Ohno,K. Tadakuma,Satoshi Tadokoro

Published 2026 in IEEE Transactions on Automation Science and Engineering

ABSTRACT

In large-scale shipbuilding, welding tasks represent a significant portion of all tasks, requiring automated robot operation. However, current welding robots are not automated for high and narrow spaces because they cannot pull heavy welding cables, causing deviations from the intended path and reducing the welding accuracy. This paper proposes a cable-towing stabilization method considering factors such as the self-weight of multiple vehicles, magnetic adhesion force, and force necessary to hold the cables. The proposed approach integrates welding robots, which perform welding tasks, with towing robots, which alleviate the load imposed by welding cables and wire feeders. Cable-towing on walls requires reducing excessive distances between vehicles, as well as their excessive acceleration, in addition to maintaining the mechanical stability of each vehicle. Therefore, the optimal positions and postures of the towing vehicles are sequentially calculated using an optimization problem. The proposed method was evaluated through simulations and real-world experiments, confirming stable cable-towing on a wall surface of approximately $3\times 1.5$ m. The findings of this research enhance the safety and efficiency of managing deformable linear objects with robots, focusing on mechanical safety while expanding the operational range from single-vehicle wall-mounted operations to cooperative multi-vehicle wall-mounted tasks, thereby increasing applicability to various wall-towing scenarios. Note to Practitioners—This study addressed a key challenge in automating welding tasks on vertical or confined surfaces: managing heavy and flexible welding cables. During manual operations, workers naturally compensate for cable weight and slack. However, in automated systems, these cables often cause robots to deviate from their intended paths, reducing accuracy and stability. To address this issue, we propose a system that coordinates welding and towing robots designed to relieve cable tension. The towing robots are magnetically adhered to the surface and repositioned through optimization to ensure stable cable guidance while minimizing excessive motion or distance. This enables the welding robot to operate more precisely and reliably, even on steep wall surfaces. The proposed system was validated through simulations and real-world experiments on a $3~{\times }~1.5$ m vertical wall, confirming its feasibility for industrial settings. The proposed approach facilitates scalable, multi-robot collaboration in narrow or elevated environments, which are common in large-scale shipbuilding and plant maintenance. A significant avenue for future development lies in extending the proposed method to handle curved or irregular surfaces. Real-world infrastructure are rarely flat, and adapting the coordination strategy to such geometries would further improve the versatility and practicality of robotic cable-handling systems.

PUBLICATION RECORD

  • Publication year

    2026

  • Venue

    IEEE Transactions on Automation Science and Engineering

  • Publication date

    Unknown publication date

  • Fields of study

    Not labeled

  • Identifiers
    DOI 10.1109/TASE.2026.3656652
  • External record

    Open on Semantic Scholar

  • Source metadata

    Semantic Scholar

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