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It is a challenge to detect the weld position during tight butt joint laser welding in that the tight butt joint is non-grooved and invisible. This paper proposes a novel method for tight butt joint weld detection based on magneto optical imaging. Two pieces of weldment were magnetized by an electromagnet so that they could show magnetic N and S polarity respectively. When a polarized light was projected on a magneto-optical film, it would deflect due to magneto-optical effect. In accordance with magneto field distribution, an image formed on the visual sensor. A transition zone of magnetic field distribution which corresponded to the butt joint could be shown in a magneto optical image of weldment. Variation features of magnetic field distribution were obtained by using image sequence optical flow method, and a particle filter was integrated to make an accurate prediction on weld position. Weld position was obtained by calculating the maximum value of optical flow intensity in the vertical direction, and a particle filter was used to realize the accurate prediction on weld position. Experimental results showed that the proposed method was effective in detection of weld and realizing weld seam tracking. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]