fprintf

[tyhu]

In kuka, is there any API which could write data to an external file as fprintf in C?  Thanks.

[SkyeFire]

Not standard.  I know of some people who have written their own C# or VB6 plugins that run inside the Windows side of the controller and can monitor robot variables.  From there, writing those variables to a file would be fairly trivial.  But writing plugins that can engage the VxWinRTCC "hooks" in the KRC is, from what I've heard, rather tricky. 

One quick&dirty way to do this would be to use the serial ports in the robot and a null-modem cable.  A routine in KRL could send data strings out through the robot COM port, to be recieved and logged to file on the Windows side.  This could be as simple as runnin Hyperterminal on the Windows side with logging active, or a small Windows program or script that listens to the COM port and writes the received strings to disk is fairly straightforward, and requires no specialized KUKA knowledge.

[mookie]

You can write to an external file and ive done it several times but I think one of the biggest issues that im running into is that I personally need to recompile for every different build of the robot. I can handle that though. I am working on something that may be useful here in the near future. is there a special way that you want your data output?

[tyhu]

Thanks, SkyeFire  and mookie.

I dont need special way for the output. I just hope that I can write date to an external .txt file. For example, I want to write robot location to an external .txt file every 10 seconds until, let's say, for 10 days.

[SkyeFire]

I've been complaining about KRL's lack of a write/read command for text files for years, but no one in Augsburg listens to me.   

So, ironically, your simplest path to performing such a function is to send the data out of the robot to a regular computer where you can easily set up a receiver system.  The serial ports are one way.  EKX would be another, if you have that package.  OPCserver might be capable of it, but I don't have any background in that, so I can't be sure.

[tyhu]

Right now, we can use OPC or serial port to realize logging data from another computer, but it is really inconvenient.

[SkyeFire]

Well, you can do it inside the robot, using the Windows side of the robot's brain.  But to the best of my knowledge, there is no way to do it directly from KRL.