This paper shows the experimental results controlling the height of surface and back bead in GMAW by analyzing the unexpected gaps between base metals produced in welding and by controlling welding velocity due to the variation of the gap between base metals in thin-plate welding. The back bead behavior and burn-through in I-type butt joint $CO_2$ welding of thin mild steel are analyzed in the views of short circuit time ratio and short circuit frequency. It is shown through experimental consideration that the short circuit time ratio method is more reasonable than the short circuit frequency method in analyzing the formulation of back bead under changing the gap between base metals. Based on the these results, welding manipulator is designed so as to satisfy the bead height control in real time by measuring the short circuit time ratio. To show the effectiveness of the developed bead formulation control system, the experiment is implemented under two welding conditions such as increasing gap from 0mm to 0.8mm and gradually increasing gap from 0mm to 1.2mm. The experimental results show that the bead formulation can be controlled uniformly in spite of the variation of the gap between base metals.