RoboDK supports all Siemens Sinumerik controllers that are controlled using OPC-UA. This documentation is based on the Siemens Sinumerik 840D controller.

Copying the Driver on the Controller

To use the Siemens Sinumerik Driver, it must first be installed on the Sinumerik controller. Follow these steps to install the driver:

1.Download the driver from here.

2.Copy the ROBODK_SYNC.MPF file on a USB drive

3.Plug the USB drive into the controller

4.Press “Program” on the controller

5.Press “USB”

6.Find the ROBODK_SYNC file

7.Press “Copy”

8.Press “User files”

9.Press “Paste”

Run the Driver on the controller

Once the driver has been copied to the controller, it is now necessary to run the program by following these steps:

1.Press “Program” on the controller

2.Press “User files”

3.Select ROBODK_SYNC

4.Press “Ext. Execution”

5.Press "Cycle Start”

Note: It is recommended to reduce the speed at the start by turning the knobs to reduce risks.

Change Driver Settings

To change the default settings for the driver, such as the certificates to use or the location of the variables to use, the DriverOPCUA.ini file needs to be updated. For Windows users, this file can be found at “C:\Users\{Username}\AppData\Local\RoboDK-Drivers”. By default, there are 4 nodes used by the driver.

1.The action command is used to send the action to complete for the robot.

2.The array command is used to send any supplementary information to the driver, such as joint positions.

3.The joint values node contains the current joint positions of the robot.

4.The action state is used to check the current state of the robot.

It is also possible to add more nodes to this file if required. The DriverOPCUA.ini file also includes general settings, such as using flat indexing and use service layer, to ensure compatibility between the driver and the controller.

Run Program from RoboDK

Robot drivers provide an alternative to Offline Programming (where a program is generated, then, transferred to the robot and executed). You can run a simulation from RoboDK directly on the robot (Online Programming). More information available in the Robot Drivers section.

Follow these steps to connect to the robot from RoboDK:

1.Right click the robot in RoboDK

2.Select: Connect to robot…

3.Enter the IP of the robot. Optionally, add credentials (e.g. 123.123.123.123/user@password)

4.Select Connect.

There should be a green message displaying Ready if the connection succeeded.