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Franky Remote

This solution allows you to run your Python Franky code on a workstation (client) while the actual robot control happens on a real-time enabled machine (server).

Architecture

  • Server: Runs on the real-time machine. It hosts the actual franky library and exposes it via RPyC.
  • Client: Runs on your workstation. It installs a "fake" franky package that transparently forwards all calls to the server.

Attribution & License

This project wraps the Franky library created by Tim Schneider.

  • Original Library: https://github.com/TimSchneider42/franky
  • License: The core franky-remote code is licensed under MIT. However, the examples directory includes code from the original franky repository which is licensed under LGPL-3.0.

If you use this project, please credit the original authors of franky.

Setup

1. Server Side (Real-time Machine)

Option A: Using Servobox (Recommended)

If you are using Servobox to manage your real-time environment, you can simply run:

# For Franka Emika Panda (Gen1)
servobox pkg-install franky-remote-gen1
servobox run franky-remote-gen1  # This will auto-spin the server

# For Franka Research 3 (FR3)
servobox pkg-install franky-remote-fr3
servobox run franky-remote-fr3

Option B: Manual Setup

  1. Ensure franky is installed and working.
  2. Install rpyc: 
    pip install rpyc
  3. Run the server script (preferably with sudo for Real-Time scheduling): 
    # Runs with SCHED_FIFO priority if possible
sudo python3 server/run.py

# For infinite recovery on failure:
sudo python3 server/run.py --persistent
    (You can set the port via FRANKY_SERVER_PORT env var, default is 18861)

2. Client Side (Workstation)

  1. Install rpyc:

    pip install rpyc

  2. Install the client package:

    From source (development):

    pip install -e .

    Directly from GitHub:

    pip install git+https://github.com/kvasios/franky-remote.git

    Note: If you already have franky installed on the client, you should uninstall it first to avoid conflicts, or rely on PYTHONPATH precedence.

  3. Configure the connection: Set the environment variable FRANKY_SERVER_IP to the IP of your server.

    export FRANKY_SERVER_IP=192.168.1.X

Usage

Run your scripts exactly as before!

from franky import Robot, JointMotion

# This connects to the remote server, which connects to the robot
robot = Robot("172.16.0.2") 

motion = JointMotion([0, 0, 0, -1.5, 0, 1.5, 0])
robot.move(motion)

How it works

The client franky package connects to the server upon import. It then populates its own namespace with references to the server's franky objects. When you create a Robot or Motion object, you are actually creating it on the server. All method calls are forwarded over the network.