Kuka EtherCAT "Hot Connect" or "flexible topology"

    I'm wondering if anyone has had success using EtherCAT devices on EOAT? My setup has multiple tools per robot, and from what i understand there's a "Hot Connect" feature that allows the EtherCAT topology to "break" and be connected to something else.

    I'm having issues when it comes to un-attaching a tool. There's an EL6695-1001 block that handles the safety of the system, and whenever I disconnect the tool it breaks the FSOE so the robot safety stops.

    When Editing the EtherCAT Topology in the SYS_X44, changing the "Disconnectable" property to True breaks the overall EtherCAT topology when deployed. It no longer can view the device and instead shows the device in a "yellow state" in the EtherCAT topology tab on the pendant (i.e. in the state machine of idle). The "Disconnectable" device as not found in the EtherCAT system. (i.e. it shows 2 devices in the EtherCAT topology tab on the pendant. One it cannot connect to and another that is not set up on the bus structure).

    I'm using KSS 8.6.10 on a KR C4. It's attached to a KR120 R3900K_2 and a KL4000_Q_40.

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  • MOM March 26, 2024 at 7:00 PM

    Approved the thread.

    as far as i recall KUKA never added that feature to X44. the only devices that do support hot plugging are EMD and smartPad. ECAT as IO fieldbus was offered as standard but with obvious limitation (this being one).

    if you need to couple/decouple IO modules, you will need to use paid IO Fieldbus option such as EtherentIP or ProfiNet.

    1) read pinned topic: READ FIRST...

    2) if you have an issue with robot, post question in the correct forum section... do NOT contact me directly

    3) read 1 and 2

    • Best Answer

    Sure, publication number is PB23115 that is for a very new even unknown kss to me. I know i've got one for 8.7 somewhere also.

    Publication number PB8872 is for kss 8.2, 8.3 and 8.5

    You should find it on xpert by those numbers. Name is along the lines:

    Controller option

    KR C4 EtherCat

    Thank you for the reply.

    I got it working (similar to the EMD / smartPaD, so thank you for getting me on that path)

    As it turns out, you need TwinCAT to write to the EPROM of the device. WoV does not write the Alias of the device properly. So in my case i needed an ethernet to M8 cord, and a computer with a TwinCAT enabled port.

    When you open TwinCAT, you open a blank project and "search for box's" in the IO tab. In the advanced settings you can change the alias and write to EPROM from this menu.

    Once the alias is assigned, you just add them in the WoV EtherCAT topology and make the "lines" have the "disconnectable" attribute = true. (also change the Alias number at this point)

    It looks funny because everything ends up being connected port A to port B in a long chain.

    When you go to look at the EtherCAT Topology on the smart pad though, it looks just like the EMD does on the KCB bus when it's connected / disconnected. It's very important that the Alias number you write to EPROM matches the value in WoV.

    I have not tried the KRL commands to connect/disconnect though, it looks like this would be hyper helpful to confirm that the tool is operating properly and can indeed communicate post tool change.

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