Calibrate a New Tool

Owned by Courtney Morshed
Last updated: May 11, 2023 by Aaron Beebe


So, you've just stuck something new onto the end of the KUKA and you want to know how to tell the robot and the robot software where the end of the tool is. This is called tool calibration and can usually be done in just a few minutes.

Background:

  • The robot works on a Cartesian coordinate system with it's root at the base of the machine.
  • Without a tool, the TCP (Tool Center Point) of the robot is located at the center of the flange on the end of the arm. By calibrating a new tool, you are telling the machine where the new TCP is in relation to that point and what coordinate system it should adopt.
  • Our KUKA Robots can each store 16 different tools. Each tool, therefore, has a tool number and a set of measurements indicating it's tool tip's distance from the original TCP.


  1. Securely attach your tool to the robot.
  2. Place a calibration point somewhere on a stable surface.
    1. Usually, we will place the metal spike on the drawing table to do this.
    2. It's not important where the calibration point is. We just need to establish a single fixed point in space so the robot can compare the following measurements.
  3. Turn on the KUKA and login as Administrator (guide here)
  4. From the main menu, go to Start Up > Calibrate > Tool > XYZ 4 Point
  5. The following screen will appear:

  6. You can change the tool number in the first box to change which tool you are calibrating.
    1. Make sure you are not overwriting another researcher's tool.
    2. Tool 16 is a general-purpose tool that you can overwrite if you just need to quickly get the coordinates of a new tool to store in an external piece of software (like KUKAPython).
    3. Please save your tool with a descriptive name. "C" or "Deb" or "Test" are not helpful.
  7. Follow the instructions on the screen, jogging the robot between each measurement so that your tool tip is approaching the calibration point from as wide a variety of angles as possible.
  8. When you've completed the steps, it will ask you for Mass capacities. For most of our purposes this can be left alone.
  9. The final screen gives your final coordinates.
    1. The resulting numbers will tell you, in mm, how far away the tool tip is from the center of the flange.
    2. The number on the right the the error margin, again in mm, of your measurements. A number below 1.00 is preferable.
  10. Make sure to save your results.