pytracik 0.0.3

TracIK Python Bindings

pytracik - Trac-IK bindings in Python

📢 Now available on PyPI! Install with pip install pytracik — no need to build from source on Linux and macOS. See Installation for details.

Welcome to pytracik, a Python library that provides convenient and efficient bindings for the Trac-IK inverse kinematics solver. With support for Python 3.8+ and compatibility across both Windows and Linux environments. pytracik eliminates the need for ROS installation and simplifies the integration process.

✨ Differences from Original Repo:

• 🚀 ROS-Free Integration: Say goodbye to the ROS requirement. pytracik allows you to effortlessly incorporate Trac-IK's advanced inverse kinematics solver into your Python projects. However, it still depends on the boost,eigen,orocos-kdl and nlopt libraries.
• 💻 Cross-Platform Compatibility: Whether you're on Windows or Linux, pytracik ensures consistent functionality across environments.

🔗 Links

• Trac-IK Repository: https://bitbucket.org/traclabs/trac_ik/src/master/
• Trac-IK Homepage: https://traclabs.com/projects/trac-ik/
• Other ROS-free Trac-IK Python Bindings: https://github.com/mjd3/tracikpy

⚡ Quick Start

import os
import numpy as np
from trac_ik import TracIK

urdf_path = os.path.join(os.path.dirname(__file__), "urdf/yumi.urdf")

yumi_rgt_arm_iksolver = TracIK(base_link_name="yumi_body",
                             tip_link_name="yumi_link_7_r",
                             urdf_path=urdf_path, )
yumi_lft_arm_iksolver = TracIK(base_link_name="yumi_body",
                             tip_link_name="yumi_link_7_l",
                             urdf_path=urdf_path, )
seed_jnt = np.array([-0.34906585, -1.57079633, -2.0943951, 0.52359878, 0.,
                   0.6981317, 0.])
tgt_pos = np.array([.3, -.4, .1])
tgt_rotmat = np.array([[0.5, 0., 0.8660254],
                     [0., 1., 0.],
                     [-0.8660254, 0., 0.5]])
result = yumi_rgt_arm_iksolver.ik(tgt_pos, tgt_rotmat, seed_jnt_values=seed_jnt)
print(result)

Output:

[ 1.17331584 -1.99621953 -1.08811406 -0.18234367  0.66571608  1.26591
  0.18141696]

📦 Installation

🔧 System Prerequisites

pytracik is a C++ extension that compiles from source. You must install the following system libraries before installing the Python package:

Library	Purpose
Boost (date_time, system, thread)	General C++ utilities
Eigen3	Linear algebra
Orocos KDL	Kinematics & dynamics
NLopt	Numerical optimisation

🐧 Linux (Ubuntu / Debian)

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install -y libboost-all-dev libeigen3-dev liborocos-kdl-dev libnlopt-dev libnlopt-cxx-dev

🍎 macOS (Homebrew)

brew install boost eigen orocos-kdl nlopt

🪟 Windows

Download the dependencies from official sources or use the pre-packaged zip from the project releases:

• Boost 1.79.0 — https://www.boost.org/
• Eigen3 3.4.0 — https://eigen.tuxfamily.org/
• NLopt — https://nlopt.readthedocs.io/
• Orocos KDL — https://orocos.github.io/orocos_kinematics_dynamics/installation.html

👉 Shortcut: Grab the pre-packaged zip: 📥 https://github.com/chenhaox/pytracik/releases/tag/dependency_files

Unzip it into the project root so that a dependency/ folder exists next to setup.py.

⚡ Install from PyPI (recommended)

Once the system prerequisites above are installed:

pip install pytracik

⚡ Install from GitHub

# pip
pip install "pytracik @ git+https://github.com/chenhaox/pytracik.git"

# uv
uv add "pytracik @ git+https://github.com/chenhaox/pytracik.git"

🛠️ Install from source

git clone https://github.com/chenhaox/pytracik.git
cd pytracik
pip install .

🪟 Windows: Manual Build with Visual Studio (advanced)

1. Download Visual Studio (https://visualstudio.microsoft.com/downloads/). Here we use Visual Studio 2022 as an example. Install required components:

   • Desktop development with C++
   • C++ CMake tools for Windows

2. Compile pytracik with Visual Studio following the instructions below. a. Create an C++ Empty project in Visual Studio.

   

   b. Add the source files in src folder to the project.

   

   c. Right click the project and select Properties.

   • Set the Configuration to Release and Platform to Active (x64)
   • In the Configuration Properites/General tab, set the Target Name to pytracik_bindings.
   • Set the Configuration Type to Dynamic Library (.dll).
   • Set C++ language standard to ISO C++17 Standard (/std:c++17).

   

   d. In the Configuration Properites/Advanced tab, set Taget File Extension to .pyd.

   e. In the C/C++ tab, add the include directories of 1. Boost, 2. Eigen3, 3. NLopt and 4. Orocos KDL 5. Python and 6. Pybind11 to Additional Include Directories.

   

   f. In the Linker/General tab, add the library directories of 1. Boost, 2. NLopt 3. Orocos KDL and 4. Python to Additional Library Directories.

   

   g. In the Linker/Input tab, add the library names of 1. Boost, 2. NLopt 3. Orocos KDL and 4. Python to Additional Dependencies.

   

   h. Set the Solution Configuration to Release and Solution Platform to x64. Then build the project. The pytracik_bindings.pyd file will be generated in the Release folder.

3. Copy the pytracik_bindings.pyd file to the pytracik folder. Note: if the error ImportError: DLL load failed while importing pytracik: The specified module could not be found. occurs, please copy the nlopt.dll in the <NLopt installation path\bin> to the pytracik folder:

4. Make installation (Optional):

   pip install -e .