Move a gantry

You have two options for moving a gantry:

Prerequisites

A running machine connected to the Viam app. Click to see instructions.
Add a new machine in the Viam app. On the machine’s page, follow the setup instructions to install viam-server on the computer you’re using for your project. Wait until your machine has successfully connected to the Viam app.

Configure and connect to your gantry

1. Configure the gantry’s motor components

First, connect the gantry’s motors to your machine.

Then, navigate to the CONFIGURE tab of your machine’s page in the Viam app. Click the + icon next to your machine part in the left-hand menu and select Component. Search for and select a model that supports your motor.

Complete the motor configuration and use the TEST panel in the configuration card to test that the motor is working.

Repeat this for each motor of your gantry.

2. Configure a gantry component

Use the + button again to add gantry components.

If you have a multi-axis gantry, configure a single-axis gantry for each axis, and then configure a multi-axis gantry to combine them all into one coordinated unit.

3. Connect code to your gantry

Go to your machine’s CONNECT tab in the Viam app. Select your preferred programming language and copy the code snippet.

See Create a web app, Create a mobile app, or Create a headless app for more information, depending on your use case.

Control each axis

The following is an example Python script using the gantry API. For more methods and code snippets in more languages, see Gantry API.

import asyncio

from viam.robot.client import RobotClient
from viam.rpc.dial import Credentials, DialOptions
from viam.components.gantry import Gantry


async def connect():
    opts = RobotClient.Options.with_api_key(
        # Replace "<API-KEY>" (including brackets) with
        # your machine's API key
        api_key='<API-KEY>',
        # Replace "<API-KEY-ID>" (including brackets) with
        # your machine's API key ID
        api_key_id='<API-KEY-ID>'
    )
    return await RobotClient.at_address('<ROBOT_ADDRESS>', opts)


async def main():
    machine = await connect()

    print('Resources:')
    print(machine.resource_names)

    # get gantry-1
    gantry_1 = Gantry.from_robot(machine, "gantry-1")
    gantry_1_return_value = await gantry_1.get_lengths()
    print(f"gantry-1 get_lengths return value: {gantry_1_return_value}")

    # Home the gantry
    await gantry_1.home()

    # Move this three-axis gantry to a position 5mm in the
    # positive Y direction from (0,0,0)
    # and set the speed of each axis to 8 mm/sec
    await gantry_1.move_to_position([0, 5, 0], [8, 8, 8])

    # Don't forget to close the machine when you're done!
    await machine.close()

if __name__ == '__main__':
    asyncio.run(main())

Use automated complex motion planning

The following is an example Python script using the motion planning API. For more methods and code snippets in more languages, see Motion API.

import asyncio

from viam.robot.client import RobotClient
from viam.rpc.dial import Credentials, DialOptions
from viam.components.gantry import Gantry
from viam.services.motion import MotionClient
from viam.proto.common import Pose, PoseInFrame


async def connect():
    opts = RobotClient.Options.with_api_key(
        # Replace "<API-KEY>" (including brackets) with
        # your machine's API key
        api_key='<API-KEY>',
        # Replace "<API-KEY-ID>" (including brackets) with
        # your machine's API key ID
        api_key_id='<API-KEY-ID>'
    )
    return await RobotClient.at_address('<ROBOT_ADDRESS>', opts)


async def main():
    machine = await connect()

    print('Resources:')
    print(machine.resource_names)

    # get gantry-1
    gantry_1 = Gantry.from_robot(machine, "gantry-1")
    gantry_1_return_value = await gantry_1.get_lengths()
    print(f"gantry-1 get_lengths return value: {gantry_1_return_value}")

    motion = MotionClient.from_robot(robot=machine, name="builtin")

    goal_pose = Pose(x=0, y=0, z=300, o_x=0, o_y=0, o_z=1, theta=0)
    # Move the gantry
    await motion.move(
        component_name=gantry_1,
        destination=PoseInFrame(reference_frame="myFrame", pose=goal_pose))

    # Don't forget to close the machine when you're done!
    await machine.close()

if __name__ == '__main__':
    asyncio.run(main())

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Move an arm

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Use input to act