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Hi,

Well, this is more of a general hardware problem as the robot by design has got axis limits that bite you at some point. You can mitigate it in software, but only to a point.

In your case, if it's only about a single circle, you can try to check which axis is winding up - probably A4 or A6 - and then start the process at the limit of the axis, so that you can then move until the limit on the other side. However, once you have multiple circles or a helix, you will quickly encounter axis limits again.

On most KUKA robots you can set A6 to infinite rotation, but note that any cables will still wrap themselves around the robot, even if the simulation of the robot looks clean.

For a clay or concrete extruder, you could potentially mount the non-symmetrical nozzle to the A6 and connect it to the rest of the extruder via a rotating connector. I guess that wouldn't work for plastic extrusion as it will harden too quickly.

Finally, more of a general remark: Do not use PTP motions for accurate toolpaths. Use PTP for the large motions and LIN for the accurate motions.

Best,
Johannes

Since you ask for feedback, another feature I miss (off-topic) is the ability to play path preview at increased speed, and play from any point into the timeline. Currently, I can only play from the beginning at 1x.
It would also be very useful to play portion of animations from the Analysis tab. That is something I always used to do in KUKA|prc, to better understand problematic passages, to focus them on the analysis and not only see the static position, but a short movement animation in the Rhino viewport from a little before the problem until a little after

That functionality is now already included in today's release. The base input needs a bit more thought, as different robot controllers treat bases differently or even not use them at all. As I've mentioned, it is on the todo list.

Best,
Johannes

Hi,

You can right-click the Core component and select "Copy Diagnostic Info".
That contains the full JSON settings, like:

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{"":"","ProgramName":"kukaprc_project","SaveFile":"True","SaveFolder":"C:\\Users\\jbrau\\Desktop","KSSVersion":"iiQKA.OS 2 (KSS \u003E= 9.0)","BaseNumber":"6","BaseX":"0","BaseY":"0","BaseZ":"0","BaseA":"0","BaseB":"0","BaseC":"0","RobotBaseImage":"/images/help/robot_base.png","AxisStartA1":"0","AxisStartA2":"-90","AxisStartA3":"90","AxisStartA4":"0","AxisStartA5":"0","AxisStartA6":"0","StatusTurn":"010","CPSpeed":"0.15","PTPSpeed":"10","PTPAcceleration":"100","ADVANCE":"3","CDIS":"10","CORI":"5","CPTP":"40","CVEL":"50","UseSplineMotions":"False","CollisionChecking":"Disabled","Header":""}
I've put the increased speed and the start position on my todo list!

All the best,
Johannes

Hi,

PRC is under heavy development, so your feedback is very appreciated!
Do I understand it correctly that you are using the "Expose Base" setting in KUKA|prc and would like to have something similar in PRC?
For now, you could right-click the Core component and select "Enable Settings Override".
Then you can plug in something like that for setting your base:

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{"BaseNumber":"6","BaseX":"500","BaseY":"0","BaseZ":"0","BaseA":"0","BaseB":"0","BaseC":"0"}
Does that do what you are looking for? So from the underlying methodology, ignoring that you would currently have to edit the JSON or generate it via e.g. a script.

Best,
Johannes

Hello,

That is an external project for which we unfortunately cannot provide support.
The new PRC (prc.robotsinarchitecture.org) should lend itself pretty well to what the project did, as you can very easily automatically run simulation jobs for optimization.

Best,
Johannes

Hi Chris,

Ah, that is super valuable information with the old controller generation. We had an option for that in KUKA|prc, but I never needed it in PRC so far. I have now backported it in the most recent release that I just uploaded at https://portal.robotsinarchitecture.org/download. It's now an option in the KSS-KRL code generation settings ("KRC1-KRC2 Legacy"). I've also attached an example SRC file - please check if that is accepted.

Regarding the memory leak, that is still very weird. We had a browser bug where a tiny indicator was taking up quite a lot of CPU/GPU capacity that has since been fixed, but it didn't touch the memory to my knowledge. My tendency would be to blame it on Eto and/or its WebView as it interfaces with native libraries and memory can get stuck more easily. What you could try is launching PRC.Server without the UI wrapping it. So in macOS, open a terminal and put in that command:

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/Applications/PRC.Server.app/Contents/MacOS/PRC.Server --headlessIt will then only show the terminal interface and you can access the UI from your browser via

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https://127.0.0.1:5001/
If you come across that again, please let me know.

All the best,
Johannes

Sorry, I must have missed that post. The error codes are in the documentation. 414 is timeout, so either a crash on the robot side or connection issues. 507 is wrong FB order. So maybe a network issue that messed with the communication?
Best,
Johannes

Hi Chris,

Hmm.. That's weird, thanks a lot for letting me know! I'll look into these things ASAP, however I need some more details to troubleshoot.

In my experience memory shouldn't be a problem, unless you have several millions of robot frames. And garbage collection usually prevents these things in managed languages, not causes them. GC may just introduce lag while it's working.

That being said, it's totally possible that there is a bug that is causing the issues. Do you have a specific file I could look at? And what is "quickly" in that context? Like within a few minutes?

There is a drop-down for selecting your KSS version as there are some slight compatibility changes between them. What KSS version are you running and what kind of error are you getting?

Best,
Johannes

Hi Chris,

In the PRC settings, you just need to tick the Save File box. The default directory is your Desktop, but you can change it in the settings as well.

Please let me know if that works! As PRC is in very active development, it might also be a bug or one of the many safety measures of macOS, if it's blocking the file generation. If there are issues, I'll try to resolve them ASAP.

Best,
Johannes

Sorry, I phrased that wrong - you are right of course that A4 is the missing axis compared to the regular 6-axis version.
If you say that A4 and A6 are doing "the same", does that mean that A5 is 0? Then you are in an area that is a singularity for 6-axis robots. If KUKA shares a lot of code with the 6DOF version, then this might still be problematic with your 5DOF robot.
What kind of movements are you using? PTP? LIN? Axis?

Best,
Johannes

Hello,

But if it is a fivve version, it is missing the sixth axis. Could that be the reason?

Best,
Johannes

Hello,

I've attached a ZIP file with some Rhino/GH files and a Word file with links to the tutorial videos. They were made during the lockdowns, but the general concepts still apply!
Hope that helps!

All the best with your new robot!
Johannes

Hi,

That went better than expected. I'll send you an email with something to test in a minute!

Best,
Johannes

Hi,

Unfortunately that doesn't exist yet. Honestly it is one of the features where I didn't know if anyone was actually using them.
It might be simpler to implement it on the Grasshopper side - I'll check if I can introduce a setting override for that and put together some simple code. But that will take a while to integrate...

Best,
Johannes

Hello,
I recently fixed some issues, send me an email if your issues is still current and I can send you a new build!
Best,
Johannes