Robot Motion

Robot Motion

synapse drives manipulators across a range of robot brands - connecting to the controller, commanding Cartesian and joint-space motion, solving kinematics, streaming servo targets, reading back robot and tool state, and controlling grippers. Pick the group that matches what you're trying to do.

Connection and Motion

Connect to a robot, command it to a Cartesian or joint-space target, and stop or safeguard that motion - plus manual modes like jogging, freedrive, and teach mode for moving the robot by hand.

Connection and Disconnection

Establishes and closes robot connections.

Set Cartesian Pose

Moves the end-effector to a target Cartesian pose.

Set Joint Positions

Commands the robot to specific joint positions.

Set Cartesian Pose in Joint Space

Reaches a Cartesian target via joint-space planning.

Set Joint Position in Cartesian Space

Commands joint positions while tracking a Cartesian-space path.

Move until Contact

Moves the robot along a direction until contact is detected.

Stop Cartesian Motion

Stops an ongoing Cartesian motion command.

Stop Joint Motion

Stops an ongoing joint motion command.

Trigger Protective Stop

Triggers a protective stop to safely halt the robot.

Jog Mode

Enables and disables jog mode for incremental manual movement.

Freedrive Mode

Enables and disables freedrive (gravity-compensated hand-guiding) mode.

Teach Mode

Enables and disables teach mode for recording robot poses.

Contact Detection

Detects contact events during robot motion.

Kinematics

Convert between joint space and Cartesian space - solve forward and inverse kinematics, configure the kinematics solver for a robot model, and read link transforms.

Forward Kinematics

Computes end-effector pose from joint positions.

Inverse Kinematics

Solves joint positions for a target Cartesian end-effector pose.

Setup Kinematics Solver

Initializes and configures the kinematics solver for a robot model.

Get Link Transforms

Retrieves the transformation matrices for each robot link.

Set Default Joint Configuration

Sets the default joint configuration used as IK seed.

Servo Control

Stream high-frequency joint or Cartesian targets for smooth, continuously-updated motion instead of single point-to-point commands - including circular trajectories and stopping an active servo stream.

Servo Joint

Streams joint position targets at high frequency for servo control.

Servo Cartesian

Streams Cartesian pose targets at high frequency for servo control.

Servo Circular

Executes a circular trajectory using servo control.

Servo Stop

Stops an active servo motion.

Force Control

Detect contact through the robot's force sensing, useful for compliant motions and contact-based tasks.

Is Tool in Contact

Detects whether the robot tool is currently in contact with an object.

State Reading

Read back the robot's current and commanded state - joint positions, velocities and torques, Cartesian pose, TCP speed and force, and controller timestamps.

Manipulator States

Reads comprehensive manipulator state information.

Is Connected

Checks whether the SDK is connected to the robot.

Get Joint Positions

Reads the current joint positions.

Get Joint Velocities

Reads the current joint velocities.

Get Joint Torques

Reads the current joint torques.

Get Cartesian Pose

Reads the current end-effector Cartesian pose.

Get TCP Speed

Reads the actual TCP (tool center point) speed.

Get TCP Force

Reads the actual force/torque at the TCP.

Get Target Joint Positions

Reads the target joint positions commanded to the controller.

Get Target Joint Velocities

Reads the target joint velocities commanded to the controller.

Get Target Joint Accelerations

Reads the target joint accelerations commanded to the controller.

Get Target TCP Pose

Reads the target TCP pose commanded to the controller.

Get Target TCP Speed

Reads the target TCP speed commanded to the controller.

Get Timestamp

Reads the robot controller timestamp.

Robot Status

Read the robot's overall operating mode, safety mode, runtime state, and control loop frequency.

Get Robot Mode

Reads the current robot operating mode.

Get Robot Status

Reads the overall robot status.

Get Safety Mode

Reads the current safety mode of the robot.

Get Runtime State

Reads the runtime execution state of the robot program.

Get Controller Frequency

Reads the control loop frequency of the robot controller.

Diagnostics

Read the speed scaling applied by the controller, useful for understanding why a motion is running slower than commanded.

Get Speed Scaling Combined

Reads the combined speed scaling factor applied by the controller.

Get Target Speed Fraction

Reads the target speed fraction set for the robot program.

Tools

Connect to and control an end-effector tool such as a gripper - configure its units, position range, speed, and force, then open, close, or move it and read back its position.

Tool Connection and Disconnection

Connects to and disconnects from a robot tool (e.g. gripper).

Tool Set Unit

Sets the measurement units used by a robot tool.

Tool Set Position Range

Configures the position range limits of a robot tool.

Tool Set Speed

Sets the movement speed of a robot tool.

Tool Set Force

Sets the gripping force of a robot tool.

Tool Open

Opens a robot tool (e.g. gripper).

Tool Close

Closes a robot tool (e.g. gripper).

Tool Move

Moves a robot tool to a specified position.

Tool Get Current Position

Reads the current position of a robot tool.

Where to Go Next?

Ready to go deeper? Browse the Telekinesis Skill Examples repository for a runnable example covering every Skill.

Skill Examples

One runnable example per Skill, across vision, 3D, hardware, and robotics.

Explore the Docs

Skills

Vision, 3D, hardware, and robotics skills — the full API reference.

Agents

Turn natural-language instructions into robot code with Tzara, the VS Code agent.

Data Engine

Generate and manage synthetic datasets for training Physical AI models.

BabyROS

Lightweight pub/sub and service primitives for building robot communication layers.

Applications

Real-world use cases: pick-and-place, palletizing, quality inspection, and more.

Support

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