Posts by Carty

Hi all,

I have installed the OPC-UA v1.1 package onto my KRC4 and I am successfully able to read the system variables of the KRC4 over OPC-UA with my client. However, we have additional variables defined in a config.dat file and I would like to link these to OPC-UA nodes such that these variables can be written over using OPC-UA.

The KUKA OPC-UA manual section 5.4 (not sure if I am allowed to share on here) specifies how to create nodes on the server but not how to link these to variables that can be used in robot programs. There is no documentation I can find that covers this. Does anyone have any advice with this, or how I can read values from the OPC-UA server nodes to use in my program running on the controller? Thank you.

Hi everyone,

I am using a KUKA robot with a KRC4 controller. The controller has an IO module that generates output signals which are used to switch external motors on. When the robot is programmed to follow a toolpath, these signals are generated as part of the code, switching the external motors on when the robot moves to specific places. As these signals are generated as part of the program itself, the switching of the external motors is performed synchronously with the robot movement.

I am looking into the possibility of controlling KUKA robots using a PLC. I am new to the world of PLCs but as far as I can tell the easiest route to go down is to purchase the KUKA.PLC mxAutomation package which allows the KRC4 to act as a slave to a PLC. I have been specifically looking at Siemens as it appears to have the most complete documentation available: https://support.industry.sieme…ng-started?dti=0&lc=en-WW

As far as I can tell, this means that the robot program will have to instead be written for the Siemens PLC, and the commands will be passed to the mxAutomation interpreter in the KRC4 controller where they will fill a command buffer before being executed as part of the robot toolpath. I also wish to use the PLC to control the external motors that were previously being controlled by the KRC4 IO module (which was synchronised as the signals were written as part of the program code). The documentation above states (Section 3.2.3): 'At the appropriate time, the commands are then transferred from the buffer memory to the robot’s path planning so that the robot executes the functions instructed using the SIMATIC controller.' I don't know exactly what it means by at the appropriate time? The PLC needs to know exactly when the commands are transferred from the buffer memory in order to synchronise external outputs with the robot movement, right? How is it possible to synchronise the PLC switching on these external motors with specific movements of the robot toolpath?

Thanks for any help you can provide, and apologies if I have misunderstood something.