Abstract: A welding robot, in particular for automatic welding of spirally bent tubes for producing dynamically balanced thrust nozzles, is provided with a sensor arrangement which scans the course and the cross-sectional geometry, in particular the gap width, of the joint gap between the components to be welded together. The robot includes an evaluation unit generating setting signals, and a setting device which is controlled by the setting signals and which adjustably sets the welding parameters (welding speed and welding output) and guides the welding head along the joint gap in a multi-axially adjustable manner.