Some PMs

I do get frequent personal messages despite me explaining that i don't want to answer questions individually and that all support requests are to be asked in forum. So, rather than rejecting them all, i have decided to maybe try putting some of them here.

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Hello Panic Mode. I am new here and want to work with KUKA robots. We have KUKA10 R900-2 with KCR4 compact controller. The whole process to start is very very confusing. I am writing you after more than 20 days of reading - KSS8.5, WorkVisual, KCR4 operating manuals and others. Also I searched many forums and this one especially for me to get started.

Could you be kind enough just to share what all I must do to get going with the KUKA robot after installation. This robot and its functioning is very very difficult for me to understand. Like the basics itself. I had previously worked with Staubli robots and it was only Staubli Suite there to simulate, program, deploy (transfer learning). Here I am unable to understand the basics to get started and its getting very depressing for me. Kuka.College is out of the question. I know one can go there for starting but that's not an option owing to the time and money. Thus, if you would just be kind to say me what all must happen around to get going, that would be very helpful.

I am able to move robot using smartHMI(pendant) alone. I mean WorkVisual is not in the pic as of now. But later I want to have programming done and then see it first before deploying and do the collision testing as well. I would be also greateful if you can point out why I don't see any package in my package management. I have inserted the CD (Workvisual) and seen the whole data, but there is no .kop file in there. To just give you a start, I am even unable as of now to say whether my workVisual PC is connected to the pendant or not. Though ping 172.31.1.147 worked but I don't know the further steps to be done.

You can just say in brief like what should happen when and I will be good to go. An example would be.

1. Start workvisual.

2, Have robot and controller from the catalog in the cell configuration. Connect them.

3, Something about adding packages or components, etc.

I hope you got me and I know I am asking you a lot but had I posted this in the forum, I knew you would have said to read the 'Read FIRST'. Hence I am messeging you to just understand the starting and the rest I will make sure to go frorward. Staubli didn't have this thing to have a configuration and i/o, this/that mode, etc so this has been very confusing. Kindly reply if you could.

Thanks. Hope you have a good day ahead.

Regards,

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You are asking for hand holding rather than a tip. Forum is not a substitute for formal training.

Basic workflow is something like this:

1. Make backups... This means as many and as diverse as possible. You will thank me later. Ideally you would generate three: Archive, KrcDiag and Image of the HDD partitions. First two require any USB stick but the last one requires bootable Kuka USB Recovery stick. Note that Archive and KRCDiag are not redundant. While there is a significant overlap, they contain different data. KRcDiag is normally larger than archive and may contain more data but it still does not replace archive. For example Archive may contain all WoV projects, not just current one. Also restoring from Archive is straight forward.

2. Get list of all software (KSS and tech options) and their versions. If you collected Archive, file AM.INI will have it. Better info is in the KRCDiag because the log file gives you all 4 numbers of the software versions. This is very valuable in some cases (version conflicts).

3. If you are going to work with KRC4, make sure to install 7zip on your computer. Unlike most of other compressors, this one allows reading of WIM files. This will allow you to extract KOP files from ImageD.WIM that you collected in previous step. If you don't have USB Recvoery stick... well... this is not a good start. You can still work and do just about everything but if things go wrong, you are stuck and it will be expensive to get Kuka Tech to reload all software. One such visit will make you regret not investing in recovery stick.

4. Install WorkVisual on your computer. Version need to support KSS your robot is running. Note that most software has bugs. Some of the bugs are significant and may force you to tryu different version. One delivered with the robot may not be the latest one but it is usually pretty stable one.

5. If you don't have KOPs already, you can get them from D:\ (must login as Expert or higher). Integrate them into WoV. Also integrate any device description files into DTM catalog. Only things found in DTM catalog can be inserted into WoV project.

6. Workvisual allows you edit robot system configuration such as configure buses, adding IO, mapping IO, configure external axis, install certain options, configure certain options etc. If you don't need any of this, you may just do everything from the smartPad.

7. Connect WoV PC with KRC4. If connecting to KLI port (X66) make sure your PC is in same subnet as KRC4. For example if KRC4 is using default 172.31.1.147 and 255.255.0.0, then your PC may use 172.31.1.148 and 255.255.0.0. If using KSS8.3+ you can also connect to KSI and have your computer set to get IP address automatically. This is convenient but has some limitations.

8. Use menu File>Browse etc and get working project from your robot. Save it (and remember where). Then save it as another file too (this will be your test copy).

9. If needed make changes to YOUR copy of the WoV project. Do not modify original (keep it safe), because chances are - you will make mistakes and robot will no lonver work. if that happens, just deploy good project and you are back at starting point. So when making project modifications, do small steps and deploy frequently to test the changes out and make sure you get what you aimed for. Note that multiple projects can be deployed to KRC4 at the same time but - only ONE of them can be active. So if you started with WorkingProject (original) and you created own versions such as WorkingProject_V1, WorkingProject_V2 etc. you don;t even need WorkVisual to revert to another project. As long as project is already on the controller you can activate it from smartPad and you are back in safe waters again. Do not put too many projects on controller since they will make the archives huge. I recommend to keep it to 5-10 projects on KRC4 if possible. Certain options will also make archives huge (VisionTech for example).

10. If change to project affects safety checksum, project activation will need additional step: After activating WoV project, you will also need to activate SafetyConfiguration. This requires loging in as one of Safety users and selecting reason for change before you can activate safety.

Note: You don't want to create new WoV poject from scrath. It is possible but requires some advanced knowledge. You want to get currently working project and modify it, not start from scratch. This is why saving revisions and doing incremental steps is strongly recommended.

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Hello wondering if you can help me with this problem i have with one of the robots.

im getting the following message

Robot no.0 does not correspond to calibration file 742490

set robot number-program robot name

transmission error DSE-RDW1

Dymatic breaking active.

thanks.

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check if robot is actually connected to controller. Without data cable X21-X31 or power to RDC there is no way to communicate with it.