Try target control online

Experiment with Cartesian targets on a simulated FR3 in a Jupyter notebook, with no local installation. Edit Python code, change velocity, acceleration and jerk limits, then watch the arm and compare its measured motion.

Launch the notebook on Binder

This notebook launches the public repository’s main branch. You can also read the notebook source.

Run an experiment

1. Open the launch link and wait for Jupyter. Binder builds the environment for the repository revision and caches it; the first launch can take longer.
2. Run the import and stationary-preview cells. You should see the robot before sending any movement command.
3. Make a 2 cm move, play the recording, then repeat with a lower velocity limit.
4. Change acceleration or jerk, one at a time, and compare the measured response.
5. Continue to the direct control API and optional sliders when ready to write a longer movement sequence.

The control calls are the same ones used in From Python:

import time

with robot.cartesian_targets(
    max_velocity=0.3,       # m/s
    max_acceleration=0.5,   # m/s²
    max_jerk=20.0,          # m/s³
) as arm:
    arm.move_by([0.04, 0.0, 0.0])
    time.sleep(3.0)         # allow the controller to move before leaving the block

move_by updates the target and returns immediately; leaving the with block stops control. Velocity limits constrain how fast the generated target moves, acceleration limits constrain changes in velocity, and jerk limits constrain changes in acceleration. A short move may never reach its maximum velocity. The measured arm can lag the generated target, so a higher limit does not guarantee proportionally faster motion.

Python sends targets to the native Rust control pipeline. A native franka-sim process runs in the same session and exchanges robot commands and state with that controller. Each experiment starts and stops its own simulator. The inline viewer replays recorded joint states as a robot skeleton, with Play/Pause, a time slider and view rotation. It requires no WebGL or external graphics assets. Optional Rerun mesh rendering in the quickstart needs WebGL2; a browser without it can use the default playback.

The accompanying quickstart.ipynb also starts its own simulator and demonstrates move_to, rotation targets and follow. See Command from a low-rate program for the full API and backends.

Keep your changes

Binder sessions are temporary. Download your edited notebook and any results you want to keep before closing the session. Opening the launch link again creates a fresh environment; it does not restore earlier edits.

The public service has limited shared CPU and memory, and may stop idle sessions. Treat these experiments as comparisons of simulated behavior: cloud timing is not a realtime qualification, and simulator motion does not establish physical FR3 performance. See Binder’s usage guidelines and the simulator gaps.

For longer experiments or consistent access, use the local simulator and run the notebook locally.