Enable RTL8188EU compatible USB WIFI dongle for Universal Robot.

USE AT YOUR OWN RISK. Be sure to make a backup of your robot first. THIS IS FOR RESEARCH PURPOSES ONLY.

Tested with PolyScope 5.11

This document assumes you have

• root access on your UR robot
• working internet connection (on your robot)
• Compatible Wifi USB Dongle (e.g. TP-Link TL-WN725N )

First, enable apt-get by adding the official repos for Depian Jessie

nano /etc/apt/sources.list

Add the appropriate mirrors for your location from https://linuxconfig.org/debian-apt-get-jessie-sources-list, eg

# /etc/apt/sources.list :
deb http://ftp.at.debian.org/debian/ jessie main contrib non-free
deb-src http://ftp.at.debian.org/debian/ jessie main contrib non-free

Next, install required packages

apt update
apt install git ifupdown iproute2 wpasupplicant iw wireless-tools

Clone Branch 'v4.1.8_9499' from lwfinger/rtl8188eu

git clone -b v4.1.8_9499 https://github.com/lwfinger/rtl8188eu.git

Compile the driver

cd rtl8188eu/
make all

Install the driver

make install

If you get an error like

/lib/modules/[ur_kernel_version]/kernel/drivers/net/wireless: No such file or directory

just create the directory by manually before trying again

mkdir /lib/modules/[ur_kernel_version]/kernel/drivers/net/wireless

from Debian Wiki

Find your wireless interface and bring it up:

ip a
iw dev
ip link set wlan0 up

Now edit /etc/network/interfaces. The required configuration is much dependent on your particular setup. The following example will work for most commonly found WPA/WPA2 networks:

# my wifi device
allow-hotplug wlan0
iface wlan0 inet dhcp
        wpa-ssid ESSID
        wpa-psk PASSWORD

Bring up your interface and verify the connection:

ifup wlan0
iw wlan0 link
ip a

reboot now

If you want to diplay the current IP adress on the teach pendant, create a new script in /etc/network/if-up.d/ e.g. show_wifi_ip:

#! /bin/sh
# Get the current ip address of interface 'wlan0' and show it on the teach pendant

if [ "$IFACE" = "wlan0" ]; then
    ip4=$(/sbin/ip -o -4 addr list wlan0 | awk '{print $4}' | cut -d/ -f1)
    echo "WiFi IP: $ip4" | DISPLAY=:0 aosd_cat -R green -x 130 -y -210 -n "Arial Black 40"
fi