Kuka + Force/torque sensor, what are my options?

    Hi everyone,

    My company wants to buy a robotic arm to do durability testing. For this we also need measurements of the force and torque while the task is performed by the robotic arm .

    What are my options? I know Onrobot has a good system, but does it also work with a KR C2 or KR C4?
    Kuka has it's own sensor (probably from ATI) but it seems it can only work with the KR C4, any Kuka options for the KR C2?

    Also possible to see the measurements in real-time (on a separate laptop) ?


    Do you know of other options? Fanuc? thanks :winking_face:


    https://www.kuka.com/en-de/pro…e/kuka-forcetorquecontrol

    https://onrobot.com/en/product…-axis-force-torque-sensor

  • Nation

    Approved the thread.

    The OnRobot page you linked to literally has a link about using their products with KUKA robots 3/4 down the page.


    Short version: any sensor that can connect to the KRC over a standard FieldBus (Ethernet/IP, ProfiNet, even DeviceNet, and others) can be set up with Force-Torque Control, or with raw RSI. You simply have to make certain to buy options that match when selecting the sensor and the robot option packages.


    (RSI can also use TCP/IP, but I've never worked with that option, and so can't really speak to it in detail).


    I used a lot of ATI 6-axis FTC sensors on KRC2s in the past, without issue. Again, it's a matter of ensuring your interfaces are compatible. The old ATI sensors generated raw analog outputs, which the robot captured cyclically with some analog input modules that were DeviceNet'd back to the KRC.


    But these days, with a KRC4, using an end-to-end FieldBus solution would be more robust and less hassle.

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