I. Project Background
The Sichuan–Tibet Railway tunnel steel arch frame has large demand and tight schedules, with harsh plateau conditions making it difficult to recruit and retain skilled welders and cutters. Steel arch frame processing is fragmented across multiple operations with frequent workpiece specification changeovers, and welding distortion and cutting errors easily cause on-site installation rework, constraining project delivery. Hunan Gentong Intelligent Equipment undertakes the centralized processing of Sichuan–Tibet Railway steel arch frames and urgently needs a fully automated, intelligent whole line for lean-manning flexible production.
The company chose 3Srobotics for its 3-in-1 whole-line integration capability that automates multiple processes rather than a single station; AI vision with teach-free operation adaptable to multi-specification, variable-batch workpieces; a single platform supporting both welding and plasma cutting; equipment that can replace manual labor in harsh plateau conditions; and its industry process understanding and full-process delivery service capability.
II. Solution & Implementation
3Srobotics provided a whole-line solution centered on the 3-in-1 intelligent robot, covering bending, fixed-length cutting, positioner welding and AGV intelligent logistics gripping modules. The bending equipment forms I-beams according to tunnel curvature; the robot carries a plasma power source to complete fixed-length cutting and groove preparation. Equipped with a C-type opening positioner, workpieces are clamped once to complete multi-angle flipping, with the robot coordinating multi-face cutting and welding. Leveraging 3D vision to automatically recognize weld contours, the robot plans welding trajectories teach-free, adopts a symmetric welding strategy to control distortion, and maintains connecting-plate hole position accuracy within ±2mm. AGVs and gripping mechanisms realize automatic workpiece transfer, and the whole line achieves one-person multi-machine management with only a small amount of manual work for lifting, confirmation and quality inspection.
III. Project Value & Results
The whole line achieves continuous operation across all processes, eliminating secondary clamping and waiting time, significantly compressing processing rhythm, improving overall capacity, and guaranteeing the Sichuan–Tibet Railway supply schedule. Teach-free fast changeover adapts to the multi-specification flexible production of steel arch frames. Cutting and welding quality is stable, arch frame interchangeability improves, and rework rates decline. The line greatly reduces reliance on skilled plateau technicians and lowers labor intensity and operational risk. Production process and rhythm data are automatically retained and traceable, providing data support for production management and process optimization, and helping major infrastructure projects upgrade intelligently.
