Welding automation, also known as intelligent welding technology, refers to the automated control of the welding process using technologies such as computers and robots. Welding is a process that uses heat, pressure, or both, with or without filler material, to achieve atomic bonding between the materials of the workpieces being welded, forming a permanent joint.
The development of welding automation includes improving the level of welding mechanization and automation, such as implementing program-controlled and digitally controlled welding machines, developing specialized welding machines that automate the entire process from preparation and welding to quality monitoring, and promoting welding manipulators and robots. Welding robots are one of the main categories of industrial robots.
Modern welding automation technology is developing towards intelligence and flexibility based on microcomputer-controlled welding power supplies. AI, machine vision, and other technologies are being integrated and applied, leading to the development of intelligent welding equipment, flexible welding workstations, and welding production lines, ultimately realizing a welding computer integrated manufacturing system (CIMS). Welding automation has been applied in fields such as shipbuilding and marine engineering, heavy equipment and steel structures, new energy, and aerospace.
During the construction of the Zhangjinggao Yangtze River Bridge in 2025, the welding automation rate reached 93.6%, and technologies such as digital twins and BIM models were adopted. In the same year, Pipeline Company No. 1 applied full-diameter automatic welding technology for the first time at the Lingtai Compressor Station in the middle section of the West-East Gas Pipeline III. Automated integral welding forming process was innovatively applied in the development of large-scale modular high-pressure gas storage equipment.
