OPC UA Implementation as Robot Maschine Interface

Hello Everyone

I am currently working in a Project where the existing EKI-Interface between KUKA and machine PLC should be converted and extended to OPC UA.

I have gone through the standards and requirements from VDMA OPC UA Robotics, however, would like to get in touch with someone who implemented OPC UA communication in their project.

I am currently in a crossroad where OPC UA defines certain possibilities (Read/Write Functions, files, variables, system relevant variables etc) whereas not everything is possible with KUKA.

It would be really helpful if we can share the best practices used in Industry to establish an Interface between KUKA (or other robots) with Machine system and external servers through OPC UA.

Current Hardwares:

KUKA KRC5

Beckhoff PLCs / Siemens PLCs

Customer Warehouse Management Tool.

Thanks in Advance.

Hi Ozkan,

Thanks for the message. Yes, I got the tech packages from KUKA and I can read the process data and other robot information from the UA Expert Tool.

I was able to define Global variables in my Dat files and could read the variables and modify the variables from external tool.

Since, this is the first time, I am implementing OPC UA in my Project, with the current knowledge gained from reading through manuals and KUKA material, I could see that the variable can be read and written from both client and server end.

For example, both PLC and Robot can set/reset the variable with the right user access.

Also, when a robot server is connected to many client machines, I couldn't define specific variable write access to specific machines.

While grazing through the materials, I could see that I can write methods in OPC UA but this is not supported by KUKA OPC UA on the KUKA side.

On a simple term, the best practices and standardization is what I am missing currently. I hope I can understand more from someone who implemented in their project.