Flexiv RDK Manual

[RDK Home Page]

Flexiv RDK (Robotic Development Kit), a key component of the Flexiv Robotic Software Platform, is a powerful development toolkit that enables the users to create complex and customized robotic applications using APIs that provide both low-level real-time (RT) and high-level non-real-time (NRT) access to Flexiv robots.

All functionalities of Flexiv RDK are packed into the [flexiv_rdk] repository.

Important

Before using the robot with Flexiv RDK, you must carefully read through all documents shipped with the robot as well as this manual, and strictly follow all safety instructions detailed in these documents.

Key features

Feature

Summary

RT operations

The robot can execute low-level commands like joint torques, joint positions, Cartesian pose, etc. at 1kHz.

NRT operations

The robot can execute high-level commands like plans, primitives, digital IO, etc. as well as NRT motion commands.

RT states feedback

The robot sends back states data at 1kHz no matter what operation mode is being used.

Gripper control

Interface with any gripper supported by Flexiv.

Timeliness monitor

When in a RT operation mode, the robot server automatically checks if the user command arrives in time at 1kHz.

Integrated scheduler

User tasks added to this scheduler are executed periodically with adjustable execution interval and priority.

Integrated dynamics model

Provide users with run-time access to important robot dynamics data like Jacobian, mass matrix, gravity force, etc.

Portable libraries

Self-contained C++ and Python libraries for various OS and CPU platforms.

Example pool

Plenty of informative examples covering almost every aspect of Flexiv RDK to help users quickly get started.

Robot description

Kinematics-only URDF and 3D mesh files of the robot for visualizers and simulators.

Cross-platform

Besides Linux, RDK also supports Windows and macOS.

ARM processor support

Besides x86_64, RDK also supports arm64 processors.
(RT: real-time, NRT: non-real-time)