Move an arm

Viam exposes three ways to command an arm, each suited to a different situation:

  • Move to a Cartesian pose uses the motion service. The planner finds a collision-free path from the arm’s current pose to the target. This is the right default when you know where the end effector needs to go and you want the planner to figure out how to get there.

  • Move with constraints is the same Cartesian-target path plus rules about how the arm moves (stay on a straight line, keep the end effector level). Use this when the shape of the motion matters, not just the destination.

  • Move by setting joint positions bypasses the planner and drives each joint directly to a commanded angle. Use this when you know the joint angles you want, you need predictable motion between two known configurations, or you want to avoid the planner picking an unexpected IK solution.

See Constraints for the full reference on the four constraint types.

How-tos

Move an arm to a pose

Use the motion service to move a robot arm to a position in 3D space.

Move with constraints

Move an arm along a straight line or with a fixed orientation using motion constraints.

Move by joint positions

Command an arm directly in joint space using MoveToJointPositions and MoveThroughJointPositions, bypassing the motion planner.

Constraints

Restrict how the arm moves between poses using linear, orientation, and collision constraints.