Users Manual

The EKI Bridge gives access to run-time parameters and offered services of all computational nodes described in
Software components (Section 6) and Optional software components (Section 7).
The Ethernet connection to the rc_visard on the robot controller is configured using XML configuration files. The
EKI XML configuration files of all nodes running on the rc_visard are available for download at:
https://doc.rc-visard.com/latest/en/eki.html#eki-xml-configuration-files
Each node offering run-time parameters has an XML configuration file for setting and getting its parameters.
These are named following the scheme <node
_
name>-parameters.xml. Each node’s service has its own XML
configuration file. These are named following the scheme <node
_
name>-<service
_
name>.xml.
All elements in the XML files are preset, except for the IP of the rc_visard in the network.
These files must be stored in the directory C:\KRC\ROBOTER\Config\User\Common\EthernetKRL of the robot
controller and they are read in when a connection is initialized.
As an example, an Ethernet connection to configure the rc
_
stereomatching parameters is established with the
following KRL code.
DECL EKI
_
Status RET
RET = EKI
_
INIT("rc
_
stereomatching-parameters")
RET = EKI
_
Open("rc
_
stereomatching-parameters")
; ----------- Desired operation -----------
RET = EKI
_
Close("rc
_
stereomatching-parameters")
Note: The EKI Bridge automatically terminates the connection to the client if the received XML telegram is
invalid.
8.4.2 Generic XML structure
For data transmission, the EKI Bridge uses <req> as root XML element (short for request).
The root tag always includes the following elements.
• <node>. This includes a child XML element used by the EKI Bridge to identify the target node. The node
name is already included in the XML configuration file.
• <end
_
of
_
request>. End of request flag that triggers the request.
The following listing shows the generic XML structure for data transmission.
<SEND>
<XML>
<ELEMENT Tag="req/node/<node
_
name>" Type="STRING"/>
<ELEMENT Tag="req/end
_
of
_
request" Type="BOOL"/>
</XML>
</SEND>
For data reception, the EKI Bridge uses <res> as root XML element (short for response). The root tag always
includes a <return
_
code> child element.
<RECEIVE>
<XML>
<ELEMENT Tag="res/return
_
code/@value" Type="INT"/>
<ELEMENT Tag="res/return
_
code/@message" Type="STRING"/>
<ELEMENT Tag="res" Set
_
Flag="998"/>
</XML>
</RECEIVE>
8.4. KUKA Ethernet KRL Interface 165