orocos/orocos_kinematics_dynamics

Orocos Kinematics and Dynamics C++ library

What it solves

It provides a set of tools for calculating the movement and forces of rigid bodies, specifically focusing on kinematic structures. This allows developers to build systems that can understand where a robot's parts are in space (forward kinematics) and how to move them to reach a specific point (inverse kinematics).

How it works

The library is implemented in C++ (orocos_kdl) and provides Python bindings (python_orocos_kdl) for easier integration. It handles rigid body kinematics calculations and provides representations for kinematic structures to solve for position and position-to-target movements.

Who it’s for

It is designed for robotics developers who need real-time capable kinematics and dynamics code for their robotic systems, including those using ROS (Robot Operating System) 1 or 2.

Highlights

  • Real-time usable code for kinematics and dynamics.
  • Supports both C++ and Python.
  • Compatible with ROS 2 (via colcon/ament) and ROS 1 (via catkin).
  • Includes solvers for both forward and inverse kinematics.

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