Cheap, used industrial robot arm for use with Kuka/Fanuc/ABB or Siemens offline SW

what stops you from checking which brands of robots each of those package supports?

RoboGuide is Fanuc-specific. KUKA Sim Pro is KUKA-specific. RobotStudio is ABB-specific. None of these have cross-brand compatibility.

Also, those sim platforms only support up to a certain age of controller. For Roboguide, it is controller version 5.4 and above, however below 7.0, roboguide is very buggy and will crash frequently.

With robot studio, I believe only the IRC5 controller is supported. I don't have a ton of experience with robot studio though.

Not sure with Kuka Sim Pro.

Best option would be RoboDK, that can produce code for lots of brands, has customizable post-processors and is way cheaper than other competitors.

Nation, Correct about IRC5 only, but if the robot model is the same, even though it was S4 or whatever, you could get by with RS for simulation.

Well, you could pick up a used robot on EBay. But it will almost certainly be old, obsolete, beat up, and very hard to get support or spare parts for. So it'll be like buying a beater car that runs, but which is so off-brand there are no mechanics who know how to work on it, and no source of spare parts.

Not to mention most of them need 3-phase 480VAC power, and deep concrete to anchor to.

There really aren't any "cheap" fully industrial robots that are any good for self-education, unless you're also comfortable wiring and maintaining them yourself. Even a UR is ~30k new, and not a lot cheaper used.

actual question: what do You want to do?

- playing with robots?

- having some special ideas or tasks?

- just to get familiar with it?

- anything else, You did not tell?

Post #8:

what do you want to learn?

as mentioned earlier:

RoboDK supports a lot robots (sometimes with wrong data) - depending of the version You get => but a good start

Just remember RoboDK does not include all functions and features that OEM OLP's offer.

If you are also looking at using the OEM hardware, then the OLP specific to the brand will assist with becoming more familiar with the product.

- such as teach pendant usage, navigation and menus.

Someone correct me if I'm wrong, I don't think RoboDK includes OEM specific teach pendants and menus etc?

the best thing would be

select the cheapest robotic industrial arms as mentioned in post #1

take the offline programming tool for this type of robot

If you are not yet aware, ABB robotstudio is available for free download and trial activation for the remainder of this year (due to the pandemic). You can program all you want virtually for the rest of the year for free. Plus, I really prefer ABB robots!

Even small used robots that can run with the offline packages can be expensive to purchase, ship, setup and provide power to. I would try to connect with local companies that deal with robots and see if there is something nearby that you can access. Most robot folk are helpful and know of opportunities that others don't. Renting or bartering robot time may be more cost effective if you're working offline most of the time. Networking with the robot locals is an added bonus.