The new Soldamatic debuts in Essen SCHWEISSEN & SCHNEIDEN (Germany) a more industrial and compact design.
In a global context of welder shortage, the worldwide industry continues to demand training solutions that help meet the demand for these indispensable skilled professionals. Trade shows have long been recognized as vital platforms for industries to showcase their latest innovations, connect with potential customers, and stay updated on emerging trends. One such trade show that holds immense significance in the welding and cutting industry is SCHWEISSEN & SCHNEIDEN. This event that is celebrated every 4 years and hosted in Essen, Germany, has evolved into a global hub for welding, cutting, and joining professionals.
Revolutionizing welding training
Traditional training has proven to be inefficient, costly, and polluting, as well as entailing physical risks for trainees and failing to project an attractive image of a high-paying profession. The Essen show encompasses various aspects, including welding technology. The latest welding processes, equipment, and consumables are showcased, offering insights into innovations such as robotic welding, laser welding, among others.
To show not only the new features of Seabery’s technology, but also various opinions about our solution, Aimée Schmelzer (SVS SWISS. Association for welding technology President) spoke about the implementation of Soldamatic in various centers and the lack of welders in the current market.
Many companies, trainers and institutions were impressed during this event by the Spanish technological company. Seabery, with more than fifteen years in this industry, during which time it has developed what is surely the most advanced welding training solution: Soldamatic.
Seeking to offer the most realistic welding experience on the market, Soldamatic™ is a patented solution based on augmented reality. It is a proven, effective, state-of-the-art solution powered by Hyperreal-SIM™, a registered trademark that identifies the set of technologies and components that make possible the most realistic and closest experience to real welding.
The use of Soldamatic has proven to increase the number of certified welders by 34%, while decreasing the actual training time in the welding shop by 56%. It also reduces costs by 68% and accidents by 84%. These are surprising figures, in addition to the energy savings, since one real welding machine consumes the same as twenty Soldamatic units (University of Esslingen, Germany).
Soldamatic and the use of real components
As for the hardware, in addition to a new, more attractive, industrial, and compact design, new advanced torches have been introduced. These have been fitted with an additional camera at the tip to show the ideal viewing angle for more complex jobs. This helps to improve the accuracy and information provided. New icons have also been added to the simulation to provide more detail and better detect faults during practice.
Related to this, Soldamatic was present at different booths around the event, not only in Hall 3 at Seabery & Weldplus space. Abicor Binzel and Capilla was also showing the new advanced torches from the new hardware to give the opportunity to try them simultaneously.
The DVS (German Welding Association) also offered a space for Soldamatic in its simulation corner. This association offers various courses with theory and exercises that can be performed through this simulator.
As its developers insist: “if you can weld it, Soldamatic can simulate it.” The new graphics are based on photorealism and physical rendering (PBR), while shading and lighting models are used to better replicate real-world materials.
Soldamatic’s success is based on the fact that “it has been created by welders, for welders. Welding is serious business, and Soldamatic is not a video game”. A statement that was corroborated by the participants during the event by the fact that the hyper-realism obtained in practice is not only the result of the use of advanced graphics but comes from the calibration of millions of combinations made in a workshop by professionals and the use of real components. The new Soldamatic also incorporates an improved welding arc, which contributes to a more realistic TIG experience. Similarly, GTAW and tungsten arc welding simulation has been advanced, achieving greater bead geometry and fine surface detail.
To demonstrate once again that this is possible, Seabery had the opportunity to create a series of weld beads from a real chassis that was displayed in the booth. This was presented on stage and many colleagues demonstrated their skills by welding in situ the different beads of the exercise programmed in Soldamatic.
Several real parts that have been customized were also exhibited on the tables, including one from Siemens. Michael Schumann (Siemens Mobility; Welding Engineers Responsible and Head of Quality Department) presented in our booth the real case of how “Siemens improves welders’ qualification through simulation with augmented reality”.
Soldamatic Robotics & KUKA
Automation and robotics have become integral to the welding and cutting industry. SCHWEISSEN & SCHNEIDEN provides a platform to explore the latest developments in this field, and Soldamatic Robotics contributed to this area as well. You could find in the booth the new KUKA ready2_educate’s cell, which has been updated and prepared to be used with Soldamatic. Seabery made possible to exhibit during the event this augmented reality solution that also provides training for Robotics welding.
As part of the exhibition, Frank Zimmermann (KUKA Global Business Development Manager) also participated in our agenda of lectures, who spoke from his experience about “KUKA cell and Soldamatic: A perfect combination to combine welding and robotics”.
Soldamatic Augmented Reality Cup: show your skills
From Seabery, we wanted to involve everyone who visited our booth, and we decided to make a contest to encourage people to try Soldamatic. In this way it was found that it captured the attention, not only of students, but also of qualified welders and engineers, among other professionals in the industry. The winner will soon be announced thanks to registering him/her for the contest via the e-learning platform.
“Soldamatic AR Cup” consisted of two intermediate and expertly evaluated exercises, to test the skills of all participants as in the other welding competitions that were held simultaneously at the event. These exercises were created by the instructor profile via e-learning, which subsequently appeared as a course in Soldamatic. Participants could see in real-time their results on the screen. Soldamatic records all training data and parameters in real time, which helps to identify and correct errors on the spot or immediately after the end of the exercise. In this way, the different functionalities of the e-learning tool could be demonstrated.
Soldamatic and its e-Learning tool (LMS for course management and development), allows users to acquire the necessary skills and hands-on experience to move quickly into a real-world environment. Users can return to the augmented reality simulator at any time to practice and refine skills in which they may be struggling.
This method or learning process is called Augmented Training Methodology and is designed to promote intensive practice in a dynamic and flexible way. The new version of Soldamatic has improved both software and hardware. In terms of calibration and parameterization, even more hyper-realistic graphics have been incorporated, and new real-time guidance has been established to assist students during execution.
For a more thorough evaluation of the exercise, the renewed analysis module incorporates a bend test, which detects internal damage to the weld bead and warns of the risk of material breakage. It allows a video replay and a 3D view to examine the exercise and the bead made and displays different graphs to analyze each parameter and defect. In addition, the system reproduces a cross-section and adds a visual of the mechanical force, which allows to analyze the value of the weld bead for each selected point.
The last word
The world leader in the development of simulation-based industrial and educational solutions with Augmented Reality technology is Seabery Augmented Technology. The company’s hallmark is to become a benchmark in the EdTech and industrial sector of skills-based training, aiding in the evolution of the traditional model and enabling companies to adapt to the requirements of Industry 4.0.
As in every event, Seabery wants to demonstrate that these improvements and new features are the result of constant feedback from industry professionals, and make Soldamatic probably the most complete, advanced, and hyper-realistic welding training solution ever.
