How to send Digital I/O from KRC2 controller to Arduino?

    Hi everyone,

    I have designed a 3D printed gripper to KUKA KR5 robotic arm. I control the robot with teach pendant but I have to control the gripper with Arduino and bluetooth module using an android application because I cannot connect the KRC2 controller with my Arduino.

    My plan would be to send a Digital 1 signal from KRC2 to the Arduino. When it happenes the gripper would close. If a Digital 0 appears the gripper would open. It is my a senior project at my university but since I am a beginner in robot programming I stucked at this point.

    I tried to write a program code (please find it attached) and I wired X11 91th plug. Originally there was one more line between line 8 and 9 which was a WAIT 5s command but it's not on the picture. Then I monitorized with Arduino if Digital 0 changes to Digital 1 but nothing happened.

    Thanking you in advance for your time and assistance.

    X11 interface is safety interface, has nothing to do with robot I/O (it is not influenced by your program) and functionality f each circuit is fixed.


    If you want to use robot I/O you need to install and configure I/O modules (devicenet for example) as described many times. you can check IOSYS.INI to see if any drivers are enabled and how I/O is mapped. Alternatively, you can try to use serial port.


    Arduino I/O are not directly compatible with industrial I/O. Industrial I/O are using 24V signals so some conditioning is required. Details will depend if you need isolation or not, definitely need to match the level, response time is also different.

    1) read pinned topic: READ FIRST...

    2) if you have an issue with robot, post question in the correct forum section... do NOT contact me directly

    3) read 1 and 2

    Thank you for the answer. Could you tell me please how to communicate via Serial port? What program commands should I use? How to set up desired ports? How can I send any signals which could be monitorized with digitalRead command on Arduino?

    Using the forum's Search function would be a good start.
    https://www.robot-forum.com/robotforum/man…ss-version-5-2/

    And as was already stated, you can't use DigitalRead with the serial port, you would have to use the Serial Library. And, even thought it's already been stated: DO NOT CONNECT THE ARDUINO DIRECTLY TO THE ROBOT. Even for the RS232 port, the voltages are not compatible. You will need a voltage adapter or circuit.

    We have used Arduino to control a stepper driven extruder with our KR6. However, we did it through a Beckhoff I/O. We used an EK1100 coupler and an EL2809 output module. The output signal from the controller closed a dry-contact relay. This triggered the Arduino and kept the voltages isolated. It's not a KRC2, but the principal is the same. Latency was not really an issue for our project.

    Edited once, last by gigante (October 30, 2017 at 10:45 PM).

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