SCARA Robot Python Emulator & 2D/3D Kinematic Visualizer

scaraemu is a standalone kinematic emulator, real-time 2D/3D visualizer, and hardware communication bridge for 4-DOF SCARA robotic manipulators.

Developed in python code.

The README is used to introduce the modules and provide instructions on how to install the modules, any machine dependencies it may have and any other information that should be provided before the modules are installed.

Table of Contents

• 🚀 Installation
  • Install using pip
  • Install using build
  • Install using py setup
  • Install using docker
• 📦 Dependencies
• 📁 Tool structure
  • 🏗 Architecture & SOLID Principles
  • ✨ Features
  • 📐 SCARA Kinematic & Geometric Configuration
• 📊 Code coverage
• 🛠 Usage
  • CLI Command Options
  • Interactive Emulation & Control Workflow
• 📚 Docs
• 👥 Contributing
• 📄 Copyright and licence

🚀 Installation

Used next development environment

Currently there are three ways to install package

• Install process based on using pip mechanism
• Install process based on build mechanism
• Install process based on setup.py mechanism
• Install process based on docker mechanism

Install using pip

scaraemu is located at pypi.org.

You can install by using pip

# python3
pip3 install scaraemu

Install using build

Navigate to release page download and extract release archive.

To install scaraemu type the following

tar xvzf scaraemu-x.y.z.tar.gz
cd scaraemu-x.y.z/
# python3
wget https://bootstrap.pypa.io/get-pip.py
python3 get-pip.py 
python3 -m pip install --upgrade setuptools
python3 -m pip install --upgrade pip
python3 -m pip install --upgrade build
pip3 install -r requirements.txt
python3 -m build --no-isolation --wheel
pip3 install ./dist/scaraemu-*-py3-none-any.whl
rm -f get-pip.py
chmod 755 /usr/local/lib/python3.10/dist-packages/usr/local/bin/scaraemu_run.py
ln -s /usr/local/lib/python3.10/dist-packages/usr/local/bin/scaraemu_run.py /usr/local/bin/scaraemu_run.py

Install using py setup

Navigate to release page download and extract release archive.

To install scaraemu locate and run setup.py with arguments

tar xvzf scaraemu-x.y.z.tar.gz
cd scaraemu-x.y.z
# python3
pip3 install -r requirements.txt
python3 setup.py install_lib
python3 setup.py install_egg_info

Install using docker

You can use Dockerfile to create image/container.

📦 Dependencies

scaraemu requires next modules and libraries

• ats-utilities - Python App/Tool/Script Utilities
• pyserial - Python Serial Port Extension

📁 Tool structure

scaraemu is based on OOP and Hexagonal Architecture.

Tool structure

    scaraemu/
         ├── core/
         │   ├── __init__.py
         │   ├── model/
         │   │   ├── __init__.py
         │   │   ├── kinematics_config_dto.py
         │   │   ├── scara_geometry.py
         │   │   ├── scara_joints.py
         │   │   ├── scara_pose.py
         │   │   ├── scara_step_coords.py
         │   │   ├── simulation_state_dto.py
         │   │   └── telemetry_dto.py
         │   └── service/
         │       ├── demo_generator.py
         │       ├── emulator_service.py
         │       ├── engine.py
         │       ├── iemulator_service.py
         │       ├── ikinematics_service.py
         │       ├── __init__.py
         │       ├── iservice.py
         │       └── kinematics_service.py
         ├── engine.py
         ├── infrastructure/
         │   ├── cli/
         │   │   ├── engine.py
         │   │   ├── icli.py
         │   │   ├── __init__.py
         │   │   └── setup/
         │   │       ├── bundle.py
         │   │       ├── dep_validator.py
         │   │       ├── dependencies.py
         │   │       ├── factory.py
         │   │       ├── __init__.py
         │   │       ├── keys.py
         │   │       ├── opt_validator.py
         │   │       ├── options.py
         │   │       ├── registry.py
         │   │       └── validator.py
         │   ├── command/
         │   │   ├── command.py
         │   │   ├── emulator_command_definition.py
         │   │   ├── emulator_command_executor.py
         │   │   ├── icommand_definition.py
         │   │   ├── icommand_executor.py
         │   │   └── __init__.py
         │   ├── communication/
         │   │   ├── __init__.py
         │   │   ├── protocol/
         │   │   │   ├── command_formatter.py
         │   │   │   ├── command_templates.py
         │   │   │   ├── firmware_response_dto.py
         │   │   │   ├── __init__.py
         │   │   │   └── protocol_parser.py
         │   │   ├── serial_port_scanner.py
         │   │   └── transport/
         │   │       ├── __init__.py
         │   │       ├── itransport.py
         │   │       ├── serial_transport.py
         │   │       └── tcp_transport.py
         │   ├── config/
         │   │   ├── scara_geometry.json
         │   │   ├── scaraemu.cfg
         │   │   ├── scaraemu.logo
         │   │   └── scheme.json
         │   └── gui/
         │       ├── canvas_xy.py
         │       ├── canvas_z.py
         │       ├── components/
         │       │   ├── __init__.py
         │       │   ├── jog_panel.py
         │       │   ├── serial_bar.py
         │       │   ├── serial_console_panel.py
         │       │   ├── telemetry_panel.py
         │       │   └── trajectory_demo_panel.py
         │       ├── engine.py
         │       ├── hardware_bridge_controller.py
         │       ├── icanvas_xy.py
         │       ├── icanvas_z.py
         │       ├── igui.py
         │       ├── __init__.py
         │       └── theme.py
         ├── __init__.py
         ├── py.typed
         └── setup/
             ├── bundle.py
             ├── dep_validator.py
             ├── dependencies.py
             ├── factory.py
             ├── __init__.py
             ├── keys.py
             ├── opt_validator.py
             ├── options.py
             ├── registry.py
             └── validator.py

     15 directories, 79 files

🏗 Architecture & SOLID Principles

                  ┌──────────────────────────────┐
                  │         ScaraEmuGUI          │ (Presenter / Controller)
                  └──────────────┬───────────────┘
                                 │ Uses DTOs (ScaraPose, TelemetryDTO, SimulationStateDTO)
         ┌───────────────────────┼───────────────────────┐
         │                       │                       │
         ▼                       ▼                       ▼
┌──────────────────┐    ┌─────────────────┐    ┌──────────────────┐
│     CanvasXY     │    │     CanvasZ     │    │  EmulatorService │ (Simulation Engine)
└──────────────────┘    └─────────────────┘    └────────┬─────────┘
  (Top-Down 2D)            (Z Elevation)                │
         ▲                       ▲                      │
         └───────────┬───────────┘                      │
                     │ (HardwareBridgeController)       │
                     └──────────────────────────────────┤
                                                        ▼
                                             ┌────────────────────────┐
                    (Interface Segregation)  │   ikinematics_service  │
                                             └──────────┬─────────────┘
                                                        │ Uses ScaraGeometry
                                                        ▼
                                             ┌────────────────────────┐
              (Forward / Inverse Kinematics) │   kinematics_service   │
                                             └────────────────────────┘

✨ Features

• 2D Planar Dual-Link Visualizer: Real-time rendering of primary ($L_1$) and secondary ($L_2$) arm links, active joint angles, target crosshair, and animated motion path trail.
• Side Elevation Z-Tower View: Multi-rod lead screw carriage elevation, active tool height, and radial extension profile visualization.
• Interactive Targeting & Jogging: Direct mouse click position targeting on both XY and Z canvases, Cartesian delta jogging ($X, Y, Z, \Phi$), Lefty/Righty elbow toggling, and Emergency Stop.
• Autonomous Trajectory Demos: Pre-programmed autonomous demonstration trajectories (Circle, Square, 5-Point Star, 3D Helical Coil).
• Sliding Window Hardware Streaming: Multi-threaded USB serial (/dev/ttyACM0) and TCP socket streaming with dynamic ACK tracking, auto-pause on buffer full, and progress monitoring.
• Hardware Serial Bridge & Protocol Parser: Bidirectional streaming over USB Serial (RP2040 micro-commands) with raw terminal telemetry log and manual command console.
• Configurable Kinematics & Dimensions: Dynamic robot link lengths ($L_1, L_2$), stroke limits ($Z_{min}, Z_{max}$), and speed bounds configurable via CLI options and JSON schema.
• Strict Quality & SOLID Standards: 100% protocol conformity, zero ISP/SRP violations, high test coverage, and 10.00 / 10.00 Pylint score.

📐 SCARA Kinematic & Geometric Configuration

The robot dimensions and physical boundaries can be customized in scara_geometry.json or injected programmatically:

📊 Code coverage

🛠 Usage

Install package

pip3 install scaraemu

Prepare main entry point by downloading main.py or create your own.

wget -O main.py https://raw.githubusercontent.com/vroncevic/scaraemu/main/main.py

CLI Command Options

Launch the graphical emulator with default configuration:

python3 main.py emulator

Launch with custom geometry overrides:

python3 main.py emulator --l1 160.0 --l2 110.0 --verbose

Interactive Emulation & Control Workflow

1. 2D/3D Kinematic Visualizer:
   • Inspect top-down planar canvas (XY) and side elevation carriage (Z).
   • Directly click anywhere inside reachable annular workspace to command moves.
2. Manual Jogging & Axis Control:
   • Step along $X, Y, Z, \Phi$ with configurable step sizes under Monitor & Jog.
   • Toggle between Lefty and Righty elbow configurations or toggle motor power.
3. Autonomous Demo Trajectories:
   • Under the Trajectories tab, select Circle, Square, 5-Star, or 3D Helix.
   • Watch the real-time simulation interpolator render toolhead paths.
4. Hardware Bridge & Telemetry Streaming:
   • Connect to physical SCARA microcontroller via /dev/ttyACM0 or TCP socket.
   • Telemetry updates synchronize live hardware position with the visualizer.
5. Serial Command Console:
   • Inspect incoming raw protocol packets (<TELEM...>, <RESP:...>) and send custom commands.

📚 Docs

More documentation and info at

• scaraemu.readthedocs.io
• www.python.org

👥 Contributing

Contributing to scaraemu

📄 Copyright and licence

Copyright (C) 2026 by vroncevic.github.io/scaraemu

scaraemu is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the same terms as Python itself, either Python version 3.x or, at your option, any later version of Python 3 you may have available.

Special thanks to Google and the Google developer ecosystem for their tremendous support and innovative tools from the Google bundle that empowered the development and realization of this project. Google, you make this world a better place! 🌍✨

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