When reaching out to Beacon Support, you might be asked to execute a script to gather cobot diagnostics. These diagnostics aid in troubleshooting network connectivity, software updates, or other issues. This guide walks you through the process of running the Beacon Diagnostics script on your cobot to collect the necessary data.
Contents
Magic Script Overview
Magic scripts, also referred to as magic files, automate commands typically executed from a terminal. For Universal Robots, a magic script is a Bash shell script denoted by the .sh file extension.
When a USB drive (also known as a memory stick, thumb drive, or flash drive) is inserted into the cobot's teach pendant or controller, any magic scripts located at the root directory of the USB drive execute automatically, and in sequence. To ensure smooth operation and avoid confusion, we recommend having only one magic script at a time located at the root directory of the USB drive.
Hirebotics has developed the Beacon Diagnostics magic script specifically to assist in diagnosing network connectivity, software updates, and other cobot-related issues.
Let's proceed by preparing your USB drive for storing the magic script.
Prepare Your USB Drive
A USB drive, also known as a memory stick, thumb drive, or flash drive, is a portable device used to store and transfer digital data between computers and other devices.
Universal Robots' cobots support USB drives with a storage capacity of 32GB or less, formatted in FAT, FAT16, or FAT32. USB drives with larger capacities or incompatible formats may not function properly.
Formatting instructions vary by operating system:
For Windows, see this guide on using the Drive Converter utility.
For MacOS, see this guide on using the Disk Utility app.
Once your USB drive is formatted, proceed to download the script.
Download the Script
Download the Beacon Diagnostics magic script to the root directory of your USB drive from any computer.
Ensure your USB drive is properly formatted.
Insert your USB drive into your computer.
Right-click the link Beacon Diagnostics magic script and select “Save Link As…”
Note, terminology may differ across browsers, like “Download Linked File As…”Choose your USB drive when prompted for a download location.
The file might automatically download to your computer's Downloads folder. If so then move the file to your USB drive.
With the script downloaded, it's time to execute it on your cobot.
Run the Script
After downloading the magic script onto your USB drive, insert your USB drive into the port at the top of your cobot's teach pendant. The script will execute automatically, providing status messages on the teach pendant screen.
Insert your USB drive into the port at the top of the teach pendant. The script will start automatically.
When starting, a red "! USB !" warning will display on the teach pendant screen.
Do not remove your USB drive while the script is executing.When finished, a green "<- USB" will appear on the teach pendant screen.
Remove your USB drive from the teach pendant.
The script will generate a zip file on your USB drive named “beacon_diagnostics_<serial_number>_<timestamp>.zip”.
Once the diagnostics are collected, proceed to share the results with Beacon Support.
Share Results with Beacon Support
With the Beacon Diagnostics file ready, it's time to forward the results to Beacon Support for further analysis.
Insert the USB drive to a computer to access the “beacon_diagnostics_<serial_number>_<timestamp>.zip” file.
Log in to Beacon at https://beacon.hirebotics.io on your computer then navigate to Support.
Attach the diagnostics zip file to a message for Beacon Support.
Once received, Beacon Support will analyze the diagnostics to help further troubleshoot any issues.
Resources
How to Export Support Files (universal-robots)
Download Universal Robots Magic Files (universal-robots)
Disk Utility User Guide (macos)