KUKA iiQKA.OS2 VRC (Pro)

Live coupling to a KUKA iiQKA.OS2 Virtual Robot Controller (VRC) via the Robot Sensor Interface (RSI) for virtual commissioning

The KUKA iiQKA.OS2 VRC Interface couples realvirtual live to a KUKA iiQKA.OS2 Virtual Robot Controller (VRC) over the Robot Sensor Interface (RSI). The VRC runs the real robot code (real axis interpolation, real cycle times); realvirtual visualizes the robot axes, checks collisions and exchanges digital/analog I/O with the controller. This enables robot-in-the-loop virtual commissioning without physical hardware.

Beta Notice: This interface is in beta. It is validated against a software loopback and built strictly to the documented RSI specification, but has not yet been field-validated against every iiQKA.OS2 configuration. Test on the real controller first with a reduced speed override, and please get in direct contact with us for support or feedback.

Not the same as the KUKA (Y200) interface. That one targets KUKA OfficeLite via the Y200/OC_Assistant protocol. This interface targets the newer iiQKA.OS2 generation via RSI.

Overview

iiQKA.OS2 ships with a full Virtual Robot Controller that runs standalone on a PC. This interface connects to that VRC over RSI Ethernet (XML over UDP) and:

Receives robot axis positions (A1–A6 and beyond) each RSI cycle and drives the linked robot joints
Exchanges digital and analog I/O in both directions, so realvirtual can set inputs on the controller (simulated sensor states as robot inputs)

The interface is built on the realvirtual FastInterface standard and drives the robot exactly like every other robot interface in realvirtual: it writes each axis value to the linked Drive's current position.

Scope: what this interface does and does not do

Virtual commissioning with a robot involves three layers. This interface covers two of them; the third stays with your PLC.

Layer

Content

Handled by

1. Axes

Joint positions for visualization

This interface (RSI)

2. Robot I/O

Digital/analog signals both ways (e.g. set robot inputs)

This interface (RSI)

3. Sequencing

Program select/start, drives on, mode, program number

Your PLC (Automatic External / fieldbus)

Important limitation (RSI): RSI I/O is bound to an active RSI context, so it only works while an RSI motion is running. For reliable I/O the KRL carrier program must keep a continuous RSI context (the robot effectively always runs with RSI active). If the robot must wait at standstill for a realvirtual signal before it starts moving, RSI cannot set that signal — that case is covered by a future EthernetKRL (EKI) channel and is not part of this beta.

Properties

Axis Configuration

Axis (list of Drive) holds the robot joint drives in order (Axis 1 first). Each RSI axis value received from the controller is written to the corresponding Drive's current position. Drag your robot's joint drives here in the correct order. The number of axes is taken from the list, so 6-axis robots, 7-axis robots and external axes are all supported.

I/O Configuration

Digital Channels (integer) sets how many digital I/O bits are exchanged with the controller (ST_DIGIN / ST_DIGOUT). Click Create IO Signals after changing this to (re)generate the signal objects.

Analog Channels (integer) sets how many analog values are exchanged in each direction.

Connection

Listen IP (string) is the local IP address the RSI UDP socket binds to. Use 0.0.0.0 to listen on all network interfaces, or a specific adapter IP to bind to one network.

Rsi Port (integer) is the UDP port the controller sends its RSI packets to. Default is 49152. This must match the port configured in the controller's RSI Ethernet configuration.

RSI Configuration

Cycle Ms (integer) is the expected RSI cycle time in milliseconds (default 4, i.e. 250 Hz). It must be smaller than the controller's RSI send cycle so the reply is always ready in time.

Axis Pos Tag (string) is the XML tag name carrying the actual axis positions in your RSI configuration (default AIPos). It must match the tag defined in your .rsix / RSI Ethernet config.

Receive Timeout Ms (integer) is the per-cycle receive timeout. A missed packet counts as a timeout toward the reconnect logic.

Reconnect

Max Consecutive Timeouts (integer) is how many consecutive missed RSI cycles are tolerated before the connection is considered lost and reconnection is triggered.

Configuration (FastInterface)

Update Cycle Ms (integer) is the communication loop interval. Only Transmit Changed Inputs (boolean) reduces traffic by sending only changed values. Auto Reconnect (boolean) re-establishes the connection automatically after a drop. Reconnect Interval Seconds (integer) is the wait between attempts. Max Reconnect Attempts (integer, -1 = unlimited) caps the attempts. Debug Mode (boolean) logs detailed communication activity for troubleshooting.

Status (Read-Only)

State shows the connection status (Disconnected, Connecting, Connected, Error). Current Axis Deg lists the live axis values in degrees. VRC Cycle Count and Last Cycle Ms report throughput and the duration of the last cycle. Reconnect Attempt Count, Input/Output Signals, Comm Cycle Ms and Cycle Count provide further diagnostics.

Signal Structure

Click Create IO Signals to generate the I/O signal objects as children of the interface. With 8 digital and 2 analog channels the hierarchy looks like this:

Signal

Type

Direction

RSI mapping

DigOut0 … DigOutN

PLCOutputBool

controller → realvirtual

ST_DIGOUT bits

DigIn0 … DigInN

PLCInputBool

realvirtual → controller

ST_DIGIN bits (set robot inputs)

AnaOut0 … AnaOutN

PLCOutputFloat

controller → realvirtual

analog out

AnaIn0 … AnaInN

PLCInputFloat