Posts by Spirit532

Anyone?

So far I've had no overload or overtorque issues. A2/A3 are chain-driven and preloaded, and it's not loading either up harder than the chain tensioner(takes quite a lean on it to cause the tensioner to flex), so I'm pretty sure it'll work.
Acceleration is really crucial though - stopping abruptly makes the whole robot wobble quite a bit. At 10% acceleration it's buttery smooth.

Build a length measuring fixture(laser trip sensor or something like that) and insert a routine in to the program that moves the tip into the fixture and detects which one of the two sizes was tripped. Alarm if wrong.

Hey, I'm not putting a 4000% overload on it, only 1.5kg more than it's supposedly rated for at nearly full speed...

I have a KUKA KR3(rebranded CRS F3) robot, which has a nominal payload capacity of 3kg. I'd like to put a 4.5kg tool on the end of it(which applies no force, just 4.5kg static). Using common sense tells me that this shouldn't be too much of a problem as it's not going to be running 24/7 - in fact, it's going to get a duty cycle of less than 1%(days of standby, minutes of motion), and I'm going to be using a significantly reduced speed - no more than around 100mm/s and less than 20% acceleration, due to how sensitive the payload is to rapid acceleration(it's a camera).

On this page it says that the maximum payload is already above the 3kg "nominal":

But all the way down at the maximum force calculation it says the load is... 6 kg?

The robot will almost always be positioned in a way where axis 5 is vertical:

This shouldn't damage the robot, right? I'm not really concerned about wear, since again, the duty cycle will be absolutely tiny, and most of the time the robot will have no tool attached, or the axes are going to be at rest(vertical or on a rubber pad under gravity).

Quote from SkyeFire

For example, Fusion360 is free to hobbyist users, and can do CAD and CAM in one package, but does not produce robot-usable output. That would require the KUKA.CNC option package, or some other translator.

There's now a native KRL post-processor for Autodesk Inventor and F360. https://cam.autodesk.com/hsmposts?p=kuka

I have another interesting problem:
I'd like to have an additional, 7th(8th, 9th, nth) synchronous axis available to me in the HMI and programs, and I'd like to have the ability to jog it/manipulate it in the program, but neither the robot nor the controller support adding external axes.

I've tried setting these values in my MADA:

Quote

INT $AX_SIM_ON='B01000000' ;ACHSSIMULATION
INT $SIMULATED_AXIS='B0000' ;Simulation von Roboterachsen
INT $ACTIVE_AXIS_MASK='B01111111' ;Aktive Verfahrtasten, achsspez.
INT $ACTIVE_KAR_MASK='B00111111' ;Aktive Verfahrtasten, kartesisch

However, that doesn't do anything as far as I can tell. I don't see the axis, I can't monitor or jog it.

If I set $EX_AX_NUM to 1, it spits a bunch of DSE errors out at me(regardless of whether $AX_SIM_ON is set), since I haven't specified a DSE channel, and I can't specify a $PMCHANNEL since that may cause actual hardware damage.

AxisConfigurator is available on the robot but it does not run, saying that it's the wrong controller type "(V)KRC3A"(It is a KRC3).

Is there a way to get a completely nonexistent axis that is still linked to the kinematics system and is able to be "moved" synchronously by the program?

The goal is to create a custom axis(light fixtures, indexers, camera FIZ control, etc) fed by kukavarproxy either via ethernet, or serial, that is fully integrated into the HMI as a native axis. Reliability and timing delays are not an issue.

Quote from javaman

The pendant shown in the photos can be identified what model is ?

No.
Call KUKA, give them your controller's serial and model numbers, and they will give you the pendant part number.

Quote from javaman

My plan is to replace ancient kuka controller & servo drives with a new controller & servo drives
the only reason i want to start up the robot with original controller is to see how operates.

Should've bought a more expensive robot with all the parts included. Prepare to spend at least $3500 on building a new controller, if you're lucky. If you're not, that number can easily double.
The servos on the robot are very, very powerful, and need servo drives to accommodate the power rating(600V at up to 48A for the largest).
Replacing the pendant on a KRC2 is very complicated, and requires a working pendant to reverse-engineer. It uses several CANbus channels with non-standard message formats, but the bottom line is - you will never get it to run without a pendant.

Quote from javaman

Where can i find datasheets/manuals for kr2150 and krc2 2002 model ?
What pallet size is enough to load kr2150&krc2 ?

Talk to KUKA. They'll give them to you.

Quote from javaman

I think that krc2 has 3x ksd1-16 and 3x ksd1-32 (made by lenze) servo drives where can i find the manuals for these servodrives?

You can't. They're KUKA-specific.
They're made by Siemens.

Quote from javaman

These servodrives accept driving signal other than interbus ?

No. They're also not complete servo drives, they're just 3-phase full bridges with drives. Resolver feedback and servo control is on the MFC.

Quote from javaman

Where can i find datasheets for servo motors kr2150 has?

You can't. They're KUKA-specific.

Quote from SkyeFire

How are they not deterministic? In my experience, they all update on a fixed cyclic rate, and anything that would delay a update causes a bus error.

The data may be updated at a fixed rate, but it can't be utilized by the robot immediately. The robot needs to reach it with a program, which takes an uncertain amount of time.
Somewhat like EthernetKRL vs RSI.

Quote from SkyeFire

the deterministic hard-realtime refresh of the FieldBus options

I should clarify that generic fieldbus options(interbus, devicenet, ethercat, etc.) are not hard-realtime by default, but you're guaranteed to get the message across.
Good for robust and quick communication, but it's not deterministic.

To OP:
Consider your budgets. Almost all of the software and hardware options from KUKA cost a lot of money, especially if you're buying them after the robot has been configured.
Alternatively, if you're only looking to get some data across without paying a lot(or anything), I recommend looking at KUKAVARPROXY. It's a good option for simple automation, but I wouldn't necessarily use it in a long-term commercial deployment, because it's an unofficial hack that uses an undocumented, KUKA-proprietary Cross interface.

Quote from Koppel

https://amzn.to/2ZOHD4N

Not entirely sure why you bought a manual that you can download for free from KUKA.Xpert...

Quote from Koppel

What do I need to do when I take the robot out of the box it arrives in?

Bolt it down and ensure that all the cables are connected properly. Follow the installation guide, which you will also receive.

Quote from Koppel

Do I absolutely need to perform the Mastering? I do not own the Electronic Mastering Device or a microEMD device

No. The robot will come mastered from the factory, and the Agilus bots have absolute axis encoders, so unless you do something stupid like crashing the robot hard or manually wiping the factory mastering, they should be accurate and not require additional mastering.

Quote from Koppel

I will command the robot externally with a Siemens S7-1500 PLC. At least call out a specific program.
There is a KUKA.PLC mxAutomation function package:
https://support.industry.sieme…ic-s7-1500?dti=0&lc=en-WW

I am unsure what is the difference between just calling out a KUKA program with a PLC versus doing everything inside the PLC.
What is the recommended way to go for a total beginner

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Unless you're prepared to do an extreme amount of work writing a PLC interface program, your best option is to write all the code on the controller and have the PLC select and run programs.
You can either do this with the PLC software options(which will cost you a lot of extra money, since you already bought the robot without them), or you could run the robot in Automatic External mode, in which the digital IO(some of which the robot will have by default) can be used to start/stop the robot and select programs.
This is all described in the programming and system integrator manuals, and all of them are freely available.

Ideally, since you're going head-first into KUKA with a new robot rather than tinkering with restoring an older one, you should take an official KUKA training class, which will teach you all the basics of industrial automation and deploying the robots. It costs money, but it might be worth it.

KUKA will cooperate with you if you want to buy their products.
They will not cooperate with you if you want internal datasheets and a DIY tutorial.

I have a second-hand KR3 that I was able to get free phone support for, and they did their best to help(though, admittedly, failed, but only after it went all the way up to the lead regional engineer).

Quote from Dimko45

What is the difference between a KRC2 and KRC2ed05?

Major hardware and software differences. It's all described on the forum.

Quote from Dimko45

Can a KRC2 receive CAD / CAM data?

No. You should also learn what CAD/CAM actually means before asking that question.

Updating should be fine, since the older versions are still kept, but cloning the drive is always a good idea. Updates should be incremental for safety, but anything that works on WinXP Pro will work on KUKA's WinXPe.
I wouldn't port KVP to C# though - it might end up being slower than VB. If you want to port it, go directly to C/C++

The Hicon controller is just a breakout box for stepper motor signals. The motors on the robots are not only servos, they also have analog resolvers for feedback.
The robot is just a bunch of metal parts and some servo motors that come out to bare wires.

Buying a brand new, or used KRC2 controller will be a pain, since it's likely to be incompatible with the robot, because the drives need to match or exceed in parameters(power).

I regret to inform you that you've basically shot yourself in the foot by buying just the robot.

After a bunch of testing of various combinations and multiple broken Windows installs, here's the solution:
1. KUKA's statement that upgrading SP1 to SP2 is impossible is incorrect - I have completely upgraded SP1 to SP2 with no hiccups.
2. KSS5.6.10 is incompatible with KRC3, regardless of which service pack you use. The latest version that seems to be working is 5.5.16 b78, anything later doesn't.
3. Installing EthernetKRLXML via the Setup -> Install additional Software function of KSS5.5.16 solves the issue of the MFC2 being discovered as the only option.

I just want the few upgraded features KSS5.6 and XPe SP2 have, like the authentication config, proper shutdowns, spline motion, etc - not necessary, but nice to have.
It's my only robot, and I've also tried installing KSS 5.6.5 LR, which was about as good of an idea as you might think - it just died at 10%, which means it wasn't even able to communicate with VxWorks([size=6pt]<sarcasm>I wonder why</sarcasm>[/size])

I only have 5.2.14, 5.2.15(both work, but on XP SP1), 5.6.5(incompatible, just a random ISO I found), and 5.6.10(which dies with $PMCHANNEL[3]), so maybe some other version would work? I've been told that 5.6.8 is the most stable, though I'm not sure how much of a difference that'll make.

Quote from the leg

i am sure you can only install kss V5.?.?.? SR on to those controllers due to the denso bottom controller the version should say SR on it

It's not a Denso robot. It's a CRS F3 robot rebranded as KUKA when they bought it. The controller is a KRC3, not KRC2sr - with custom firmware on the MFC and DSE-IBS cards that talks directly to the servo drives via RS485/422.

The original install disk I have is KSS5.2.14 non-SR. This disk is KSS5.6.10, seems to also be non-SR, but I'm getting the weird $PMCHANNEL[3] error.