How to report a HIWIN robot alarm so it can be diagnosed remotely

Symptoms

This guide applies whenever a HIWIN robot stops and the teach pendant shows an alarm, for example:

• The robot stopped in the middle of a cycle and an alarm is on the screen.
• An alarm comes back after it has been reset, sometimes straight away and sometimes hours later.
• A fault appears only in certain positions, at certain speeds, or at a certain time of day.
• Several alarms appeared at once and it isn’t clear which one came first.

Likely causes

An alarm tells you which check failed, not always why. The same alarm text can have several different causes, which is why the context around it matters as much as the code itself. Broadly, alarms on an industrial robot come from a few families:

• Motion and drive: overload, following error, collision detection, overheating of a motor or drive.
• Feedback: encoder communication or encoder battery problems, often linked to cables and connectors.
• Safety circuit: emergency stop, door or light-curtain interlocks, enabling device, safety relay.
• Program and configuration: software limits, unreachable positions, wrong tool or payload settings, logic errors.
• Communication and I/O: fieldbus, PLC handshakes, external signals that never arrive.

A remote diagnosis works by narrowing down which family you’re in, then which cause within it. The information below is what makes that possible.

Safe checks

These steps are about observing and recording. None of them requires opening the robot or changing settings.

1. Make the cell safe first. Follow your site’s procedures. Don’t enter the safeguarded area while the robot is in automatic mode, and don’t move the robot to “see what happens”.
2. Photograph the pendant screen before you reset. Capture the full alarm: code, message text and any detail or help screen. A photo is better than a transcription, because one wrong character can point to a different cause.
3. Open the alarm history and photograph it. Capture the last entries before the stop, with their timestamps. When several alarms appear together, the first one is usually the cause and the others are consequences.
4. Write down the identification data. Robot model and serial number from the nameplate, controller series, and the HRSS software version as shown in the software’s version or system information screen.
5. Note the context. Which program and which line or step was running, manual or automatic mode, the speed override, the tool and payload in use, and what the robot was doing at that moment.
6. Note what changed recently. Program edits, a software update, a new tool or payload, a collision or near miss, maintenance work, cables moved or replaced, a power cut, a change in the surrounding machines.
7. Record how often it happens. Once, every cycle, only after a long stop, only when warm? A rough count helps a lot.
8. Film the motion, only if it can be reproduced safely. A short video of the movement just before the alarm, taken from outside the safeguarded area, often shows what a photo can’t.
9. Make a backup. Back up programs and settings before anyone tries a fix, so nothing is lost if a change has to be undone.

Don’t keep resetting a recurring alarm

If the same alarm comes back after one reset, stop resetting it. Repeated resets hide the original sequence of events, and some faults, such as overload, overheating or a mechanical problem, can get worse each time the robot is restarted. One reset to confirm the alarm is real is reasonable; ten resets in a row usually make the diagnosis harder, not easier.

A report you can copy

Robot model / serial:
Controller series:
HRSS version:
Alarm code(s) and exact text, in order:
When it happens (program, line, position, speed):
Operating mode (manual / automatic):
How often:
What changed recently:
Photos / video attached: yes / no
Backup made: yes / no

When to get help

Stop and get help when:

• the alarm comes back after one reset;
• the alarm involves the safety circuit, an encoder or a motor, or appeared after a collision;
• there are signs of physical damage: noise, vibration, smell, play in a joint, damaged cables;
• you’re unsure whether the next step is safe.

If the robot is under warranty, contact your HIWIN supplier or local HIWIN office first. Otherwise, a remote call with the report above is usually enough to narrow down the cause and plan the next step.