Robot Serial Kuka Communications

Kuka robot controllers communicate with other devices over RS-232 serial ports using a complex, but highly robust, error checking protocol. When configured for Kuka serial communications, the In-Sight vision system understands this protocol and is able to respond to the commands it receives from the Kuka controller.

Note:

The Kuka robot must be in P3964R mode to communicate with an In-Sight vision system, and the vision system must be in Serial Kuka mode, as described below.
In-Sight vision systems are configured to use Kuka’s default protocol settings (i.e., the Kuka robot is high-priority and the vision system is low-priority for transactions).

After selecting Serial Kuka as the Protocol, EasyBuilder will automatically search your job for any Location or Inspection Tools that define a fixture and generate a data string representing the fixture. Any tool that generates a fixture will be listed in the Position Name drop-down. If your job only contains one tool that returns positional data, it will be selected by default. Otherwise, select the tool whose output string you want to send from the Position Name drop-down list. The formatted string will be displayed, as well as the number of characters in the string, for reference purposes. The Encoded Location field is also included, which displays data that the Kuka robot controller references when issuing the In-Sight Native Mode command: GV[EncodedLocation].

Note: If you have not defined a fixture in your job, or you want to create a custom string or customize the format of your string, press the Custom Format... button, which will launch the FormatString dialog. From this dialog, you can add a different string, modify the strings and/or rearrange the order of the data that will be sent by selecting the data from the list and clicking either the Up or Down buttons to set your desired order. Once you have finalized your string modifications, press the OK button. For more information, see Format String Dialog.
EasyBuilder automatically defaults to standard Kuka controller serial port settings. If your controller uses different settings, click the Serial Port Settings tab and configure the vision system to use the same serial port settings. The serial port settings will be saved to the vision system upon leaving the Communication step.
Note:
- Kuka KR C2 and KR C2 Edition 2005 robot controllers are supported.
- The Serial Port Settings options vary per In-Sight model and applicable I/O module. If connected to a supported I/O module, first click the I/O Module button to open the I/O Module Configuration dialog and configure the I/O module. For more information, see I/O Module Configuration.
- In-Sight Micro 1000 series vision systems support serial communication only when connected to the CIO-MICRO or CIO-MICRO-CC I/O module.
- There are two options for enabling serial communication for the In-Sight 70xx - 74xx series vision system: using the Breakout cable or using the CIO-MICRO or CIO-MICRO-CC I/O module. When connected to the Breakout cable (and there is no connection to an I/O module), the vision system allows one discrete input line and one discrete output line to be configured as Serial Receive and Serial Transmit, respectively. For more information, see Enable Serial Communication: In-Sight 70xx - 74xx.
- If the In-Sight 70xx - 74xx series vision system is configured for use with the CIO-MICRO or CIO-MICRO-CC I/O module, the RS-232 TRANSMIT and RS-232 RECEIVE pins on the Power and I/O Breakout cable are disabled. Use the I/O module's RS-232 OUT port (DB9) to connect to a serial device.
- In-Sight 8000 series vision systems only support serial communication when connected to the CIO-MICRO I/O module.
- The CIO-WENET I/O module does not support serial communication.
The Kuka robot controller initiates all data communication between itself and the vision system by sending In-Sight Native Mode commands. The GV[EncodedLocation] command will return the string configured in these steps, and should be used with all jobs developed in EasyBuilder.

Serial Kuka is an extension of In-Sight Native Mode communications. Because Serial Kuka is based on Native Mode, an In-Sight vision system's job may be developed and tested in Native Mode, then switched to Serial Kuka only when the actual robot controller is connected to the vision system. No other changes to the job are required.

Supported In-Sight Native Mode commands for Serial Kuka communications:

Native Mode Command	Syntax	Related Topics
Get Job	GJ	Get Job
Get Online	GO	Get Online
Get Value	GV[EncodedLocation]	Get Value: EasyBuilder View
Get Value	GV[Symbolic Name]	Get Value: EasyBuilder View
Load File	LF[Filename]	Load File
Set Event	SE[Int]	Set Event
Store File	TF[Filename]	Store File
Set Float	SF[Symbolic Name][Float Value]	Set Float: EasyBuilder View
Set Integer	SI[Symbolic Name][Integer Value]	Set Integer: EasyBuilder View
Set Job	SJ[ID]	Set Job
Set Online	SO[Integer Value]	Set Online
Set String	SS[Symbolic Name][String]	Set String