Difference between Kuka.Sim and Kuka.OfficeLite

    Hello everyone,

    I would like to start programming with Kuka and I'm searching for the tools useful to run a simulation without the real robot.

    I found two main tools: Kuka.Sim and Kuka.OfficeLite.

    After reading the documentation, there are still some points not clear to me.

    • What are the differences between the tools?
    • Is it possible to compute inverse kinematics in OfficeLite?
    • Is it possible to set the angles of the robot's joints in OfficeLite?
    • Is KRL necessary to program the robot with both tools?
    • In which scenario should I use OfficeLite, Kuka.Sim or both?

    Thank you in advance for your help.

  • Nation December 22, 2023 at 3:33 PM

    Approved the thread.

    OL will allow you to create and test-run programs, but there will be no physical simulation of the robot. The Actual Position display will look as if the robot is moving, and the robot motions will be approximately correct in time, but there will be no collision detection, for example. Inverse Kinematics will be dependent on which robot OL is set up to emulate. So, to a first approximation, OL only emulates the KRC, not the KR. Also only emulates one KRC.

    SimPro is the opposite: it simulates the physical robot and physical environment, with obstacles, payloads, collision detection, and so on, but does not emulate the user interface. It also does not (IIRC) allow you to program in KRL and do things like branches, offsets, and so on. I believe SimPro can emulate multiple robots, but I'm not sure what the limit is.

    The "full suite" is to combine both OL and SP. As I understand it, KUKA now sells that combined package as a fully-configured Virtual Machine, which comes the closest possible to having the real robot and other hardware.

    OL and SP do have some limitations. As far as I know, they cannot emulate RSI or Force-Torque Control, although that may have changed.

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