Software Request to KUKA - the robot forum bugs and wish list

Quote from panic mode

49. WoV need feature to wrap long text lines. for example spline ILFs and declarations are monsters

50. And a way to see in WV how the code will wrap when displayed on the pendant. It's a minor thing, but it really affects code usability by amateur users, when you're trying to create deployable software packages.

51. Autofill in WV that actually works. Half the time, when I start typing a variable, the "auto-fill" box pops up blank and empty.

52. Search (and replace) functions in WV's KRL editor that work reliably. Far too often, I can see the variable I'm searching for, and the Search function will keep reporting "not found." The Search also doesn't reliably wrap about at the bottom of a file, either. And the Replace function often leaves several instances untouched, while also replacing partial matches in the wrong places, even with "Whole Word Only" checked off.

53. provide a way to declare SIGNAL with inverted state. maybe by using negative index:

SIGNAL STOP_PB $IN[-6] ; STOP_PB is true when $IN[6] is false

54 - WorkVisual: a red cross over files with syntax errors, like happens in the robot itself. Nowadays we need to open files individually. Even with some false positives, this would help debug programs faster.

55 - WorkVisual: a front end to edit Automatic External variables, like the one we have in Smartpad.

56 -- consistent indenting. This is a pet peeve of mine. I rely on indenting a lot, and WV will even auto-indent KRL code on command. But inline forms don't indent! Even if you do it by hand, they always appear on the pendant display at the left margin. This is a huge pain when mixing inline forms and raw KRL code, and breaks the visual organization of program code.

57. one of my pet peeves is constantly changing code line numbers when opening/closing folds. the whole point of using line number is to track, reference and communicate with others. making line numbers change dynamically when fold is open or closed completely defeats the main purpose. this makes helping someone over the phone so much harder. please provide option or HMI setting to freeze line numbers so that line 2000 is always line 2000 - regardless what number of folds before it are open or closed. and count header lines too with prefix &. This way they will match error messages and whatever one can see offline when looking at the same file in some text editor.

58. please provide cross reference plugin on the HMI, so one can easily see if some variable or constant or sub or function is already used and where.

59. document all program module attributes (&....).

&ACCESS RVOP; V=Visible, but what R,O,P???

&REL 7 ; number of times it was compiled or saved using HMI

&COMMENT Working Program; optional comment, visible in navigator pane of the HMI.

&USER Expert ; Minimum user level to change module Properties (not content).

&PARAM EDITMASK = * ; ????

&PARAM TEMPLATE = C:\KRC\Roboter\Template\vorgabe ; name of initial template

60. Release updated version of reference documents at the time or release. KSS8.5 and 8.6 are out there for some time and there is no companion manual for System Variables, or Compatibility manual (migration to newer KSS). There are new variables like user level etc. and don't seem to be documented.

61. Functions STRLEN() and STRADD() fail for character arrays longer than 2047 elements. Other functions like StrDeclLen() work fine for much longer arrays (test 32k on KSS8.5.8). Since KSS does not have data type BYTE but allows declarations of longer arrays and not limitation is documented, i take it that STRLEN() and STRADD() are faulty.

i appreciate shared updates but would not mind faster downloads from kuka.com

even small file such as UsbRecovery upgrade 3.0.4 with just 300Mb or so take forever as trickle is comparable to dialup speeds. i can download from other sites (Microsoft or whatever) many times faster so Flashenhals is definitely not on my end

63. Get rid of WV's "ghost icon" in the top-left corner of the screen.

Okay, that sounds weird -- I don't know if anyone else has this, but it's been consistent for me through WV 4,5, and 6. I usually have a lot of windows open, and when I have WV running, I generally get some kind of "ghost" taking up the top-left corner of the screen -- right where most applications have their "File" menu, and above where most browsers have their "Back" button.

So when I'm in another window, and click anywhere in that region, the window I'm actually using loses focus. But the focus doesn't jump to WV, it just goes... nowhere.

It took me forever to figure out that it was WV doing it -- for a long time, I thought I'd picked up some sort of malware or spyware. Part of the problem is that it's not 100% consistent -- sometimes it starts as soon as I start WV, sometimes only after I've had WV open a while. The only thing 100% consistent is that, the moment I close WV, the problem goes away.

It's a minor problem, really, but it's like having a pebble in my shoe all day long.

I do notice that, when I'm running a multi-monitor setup, the "ghost" stays on the main monitor, even if I move WV to a secondary.

i think we have the same pebble. it looks like WoV displays some control in foreground then fails to hide it.

i guess they have form set as TopMost that stays in foreground and from time to time activate something on it. i usually see leftovers like text box or some label or info tip. closing WoV cleans it up.

64. Dark mode/ready theme for WoV, for the entire program, i know it is possible to have the editor customized, but the rest of it is still bright.

65: in the WorkVisual KRL editor, I really wish the little drop-down at the top, that lets you "jump" to a specific function/subroutine, would accurately reflect the function/subroutine your cursor is currently in. Also, if there was a way to select if that drop-down sorted the subroutines by name (like OrangeEdit does) or by order in the module (the current way), that would be nice.

29+: In addition to request 29 (the ability to use declared CONST INT's in array declarations) can we get the ability to use declared constants with things like FOR loops and REL motions in .src files? For example, if I declare

DECL CONST INT pick_locations=3

then I would like to be able to create arrays like

DECL REAL pick_height[pick_locations]

;Example height values:

;pick_height[1]=1000

;pick_height[2]=1500

;pick_height[3]=500

I thought of this example on the fly, but let's assume that the pick_height array values change based on measurement data. In the code I would like to be able to loop through arrays based on that constant:

FOR pick=1 TO pick_locations STEP 1

   WAIT FOR NOT (pick_height[pick]>1000)

ENDFOR

The reason this would be beneficial is for scalability. If I have multiple robots with differing pick_locations, then I can reuse code modularized by the ability use declared constant integers and simply update the constants for a given robot.

that is duplication of point 29

Quote from panic mode

that is duplication of point 29

I can remove the post if you'd like, but the additional use with FOR loops would be nice

Naaah... that's fine....

This list is to grow so hopefully its a good reminder to try avoiding duplication or just refer to existing items if commenting or expanding on it

really need to get the WoV to use line wrap. also found problem - some lines are not trimmed and hence exceed line limit and WoV does not trim them. when deploying project this results in some ugly mess, project fails to activate, then it tries to activate previous version but there is bunch of errors, nothing is compiled and files have icons of text files.

1. It would be nice to have some UI support for non-codefold motions on teach pendant. When I click on a FRAME or similar, it should offer me a UI with tools to update the coordinates saved to the variable, examples would be touch-up with current tool/base, add/sub 100mm, etc.
2. A more modern text editor on TP. Option to trade line-wrap for horizontal scrollbar, ability to select-copy-paste a portion of a line instead of selecting the whole line.
3. Some more suggestions that are in-line with the hope we get support for an established object oriented language: case-sensitivity option. Unlimited recursion instead of the 20 layer cap I think its set to. Better git compatibility be removing '&' lines at the top of files.

Quote from micahstuh

Some more suggestions that are in-line with the hope we get support for an established object oriented language: case-sensitivity option. Unlimited recursion instead of the 20 layer cap I think its set to. Better git compatibility be removing '&' lines at the top of files.

Unlimited recursion is unlikely to ever happen -- eventually you run out of RAM. And robotic OSs are always going to prioritize deterministic behavior over flexibility, when the two clash.

As for an "established object-oriented language", well, the iiWA has been built on Java for years, but it's proven difficult to really make industry-robust. I keep hearing that a next-gen KRC will abandon KRL for Java for the "mainstream" KUKAbots, but I was hearing that back before the KRC4 came out, so I wouldn't hold my breath.

And frankly, git compatibility is probably very, very low on KUKA's priority list, or their tentpole customers.

66: WoV KRL Editor

I really would like a better code formatting options on KRL Editor.

Nowadays the *Format document* feature basically indents the code.

But would be nice if it could format more stuff, as put all reserved words in upper, lower or another pre-configured case scenario (like KRL Source Code Formatter).

And also put all variable names as they were declared (like Adjust Case function on RobotStudio).

The non-case sensitive factor is, in general, a good thing for a shopfloor, but I think its really annoying find a program with myvar, MYVAR, MyVar, myVar, MYvar, while...ENDWHILE, and so on.

Quote from SkyeFire

As for an "established object-oriented language", well, the iiWA has been built on Java for years, but it's proven difficult to really make industry-robust. I keep hearing that a next-gen KRC will abandon KRL for Java for the "mainstream" KUKAbots, but I was hearing that back before the KRC4 came out, so I wouldn't hold my breath.

I also heard this Java hegemony in KRC controllers some times, but I think KUKA wouldn't simply throw away decades of KRL accumulated knowledge.