Kawasaki -- Right-hand or Left-Hand?

    So, this came up for me recently. Kawasaki robots used to be Left-handed. I remember learning on them, since they were my first robots. And the Kawasaki documentation as recently as the C model controller still officially says that Kawasakis run Left Hand Rule.


    However, I'm reasonably certain that modern Kawsakis run in Right Hand Rule -- however, I haven't touched a Kawasaki in... 15 years? RDK appears to agree with me, and a very quick-and-dirty test after I downloaded the Lite version of K-ROSET also seems to run RHR, although I haven't figured out how to choose specific controller generations in K-ROSET.


    I also noticed that the RDK Kawasaki model appears to have "Base 0" rotated 90deg around Z relative to the "front" and "back" of the robot mounting base, as compared to ABB, Fanuc, and KUKA, so that Y+ points "forward" and X+ points from "left" to "right" (from a viewpoint standing behind the robot, where the cables plug into the base).


    I'm trying to use RDK to convert a large amount of point data from Kawasaki to Fanuc, so I'm interested in how RDK is modelling the Kawasaki, and if there's any known "gotchas" that I need to look out for relating to the geometry.

    Concur.

    Staubli, Kuka, etc., have +World_X axis pointing forward from the robot.


    Kawa is rotated, +World_Y points forward from the robot.

    The Kawa World coord sys is like most milling machine tools: standing at a mill, +Z is UP, +X points to RIGHT, and +Y points FORWARD.


    Why they choose to do this and be inconsistent with the rest of the robot market is one of this life's great mysteries.


    On my small teaching robots, the Tool Flange coord sys is also a bit different. -Tool_Y points through the dowel pin. So +Tool_Y points opposite the dowel pin. :thinking_face:


    Kawa makes a nice robot system, but it has its quirks. Perhaps my assumption/assertion that Kawa is essentially a captive company for Toyota (and, to a lesser extent, Ford) is true. So they don't need be market-consistent or friendly.

    Quote from SkyeFire

    However, I'm reasonably certain that modern Kawsakis run in Right Hand Rule -- however, I haven't touched a Kawasaki in... 15 years? RDK appears to agree with me, and a very quick-and-dirty test after I downloaded the Lite version of K-ROSET also seems to run RHR, although I haven't figured out how to choose specific controller generations in K-ROSET.

    Despite the previous post that I've deleted, I can confirm that Kawasaki robot (at least buyed in the 2020) are RHR and with the base frame rotated 90° so the Y+ is forward and X+ is on the right.


    About the last I knew this weird, but about the RHR :icon_eek: what a surprise. I use yaskawa that are LHR.

    I also remember the C controller robots being LHR.


    And my first encounter with one of these had an... event that would fit best at this thread:


    Thread
    Have You Ever Crashed A Robot?
    I'm in search of the programmer with 5+ years of programming that has never crashed a robot.
    I'm told this guy exists out there somewhere.

    I'd love to pick his brain... :winking_face:
    ablant527

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