Deploy code to robot with github actions

    I might get flamed for this question, but here goes nothing.

    I'm a developer/integrator working primarily with Kuka robots (KR C4 and KR C5). We have grown a lot in the past few years, and have added additional software developers to the team.

    With our influx of developers we have started using git for version control on our software. These repositories use manually uploaded robot archives to track key files on the C drive and the KRC directory, but we still haven't solved a "graceful" way to deploy this code back to the robot. Currently we are manually copying files from our version controlled git directory into workvisual. This is obviously a pain in the a**, does not scale well, and is prone to errors if a dev is not meticulous about ensuring files are copied correctly.

    Does anyone here have a better solution for git version control of robot code?

    One thing that we've done is use a batch file that connects to the robot, Deletes the active git directory, and re-populates it with what is on the controller.

    You can start with something like: net use W: \\192.168.1.1\C /user:kukauser 68kuka1secpw59


    The unfortunate thing is robot world really does not seem very well set up for multiple people to have input on a singular robot codebase.

    KSS really isn't set up to support CI/CD, which isn't surprising given it's roots in the late 1980s.

    There are a few workarounds, but what you can use will depend largely on what your priority is.

    For KRC4s and 5s, the Project structure allows the robot to contain multiple Projects and to switch between them easily. WorkVisual also has compare/merge tools for Projects, though I can't speak to how good they are. If you're using one robot to test multiple different processes, this is what I would recommend.

    If your main goal is to support multiple people working on a single shared code base, it gets trickier. The last time I had to do this, I ended up creating a Transfer directory on each robot's D: drive, and had the remote ability to push KRL modules to that directory. Loading them still had to be done by hand on the pendant. Version tracking was done by setting a rule that every module had to contain a version number in a comment at the top of the file in a specific line, and that anyone doing manual changes for testing directly on the pendant had to append a letter to that version number. Tracking was done via a script that could read in the "live" code on all the robots over the network, parse all the Version comments against the Master Deploy network directory, and spit out a report of which modules on which robots were Ahead, Behind, or Experimental compared to the Deploy. Kludgy, but it worked.

    AFAIK, the only way to get around the requirement to manually load the modules into the KRC's RAM drive is to install the KUKA DirLoader option. That same project I mentioned above used that to update the CAD-generated motion programs that were too large for the robot to contain more than a small % of the total at one time. This worked, but the DirLoader required some very specific structuring of programs, naming alphabetical order, and call order to avoid problems. Which is one reason we never bothered trying to use it for the less massive, but still substantial, common process library codebase.

    Quote from massula

    are You saying that these files are being inserted on WorkVisual Project, or in WorkVisual repository created by WorkOnline function?

    I'm not familiar with WorkOnline. Google doesn't seem to return much, but I see you've mentioned it a few times on the forum. Will read more about this, thanks.


    Quote from SkyeFire

    If your main goal is to support multiple people working on a single shared code base, it gets trickier.

    SkyFire, this is essentially what we are looking for here. We've used Dirloader in the past. Its tricky, but probably will work for our purposes. I wonder if it might be possible to actually set up the D drive transfer folder as a git repository for dirloader to copy files out of. Using comments for versioning sounds like a huge PITA. Would love to avoid that if possible...

    Quote from snewk

    I'm not familiar with WorkOnline. Google doesn't seem to return much, but I see you've mentioned it a few times on the forum. Will read more about this, thanks.

    WorkOnline is very handy, and I use it wenever I can.

    Basically, WorkVisual create a repository containing a copy of KRC folder (and, depending on the options installed on the robot, some other folders, as RSI, for example) in the computer where it is installed.

    So You can edit these local files, even with third party tools, and synchronize/upload them later from WoV, without the need to deploy a full project.

    In my specific case, I make the sync by hand, and also need to go to the Smartpad and accept remote access there. But once the access is enabled on the robot, I don't need to get up from my chair anymore.

    Newer versions of WorkVisual had some interesting features that I never dig deeper, but maybe can help You in this project.

    Besides WonkOnline, if You open Programming and diagnoses Workspace in WorkVisual, You will see three tools, Update manager, Rollout Manager and Bundle Manager.

    WorkVisual also have a scripting feature, done by wvsr.exe program.



    I'm guessing (emphasis on guessing) that You can map the repository folder within Git, and use some combination of these three managers plus the scripting features to make sort of automation on syncing between the WoV repo and KRC controller.

    You can see WorkOnline in action in the playlist below. Please note that these videos were produced for WoV 4.x. So things may got changed since them.

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