How to permanently attach the camera on Franka Panda End Effector

Omniverse Isaac Sim
1

Hello,

I would like to add a camera to the panda end effector and record the camera images while the arm moves in the environment. I would also like the camera to move in sync with the end effector’s movements. I haven’t been able to find any specific tutorials on this topic. If there is anything related, could you please direct me there?

Thank you.

2

Hi @ksu1rng - Adding a camera to the end effector of a robot arm and having it move in sync with the arm’s movements is a common requirement in many robotics and simulation tasks. Here’s a general way to do it in Isaac Sim:

  1. Create a new Camera prim in your USD stage. You can do this using the UsdGeom.Camera.Define() function. For example:
from pxr import UsdGeom

camera = UsdGeom.Camera.Define(stage, '/World/Franka/camera')
  1. Set the camera’s transform to be the same as the end effector’s transform. This will position the camera at the end effector and orient it in the same direction. You can do this using the SetTransform() method of the camera prim. For example:
end_effector_transform = end_effector_prim.GetAttribute('xformOp:transform').Get()
camera.GetPrim().GetAttribute('xformOp:transform').Set(end_effector_transform)
  1. In your simulation loop, update the camera’s transform at each time step to keep it in sync with the end effector’s movements. For example:
while simulation_app.is_running():
    end_effector_transform = end_effector_prim.GetAttribute('xformOp:transform').Get()
    camera.GetPrim().GetAttribute('xformOp:transform').Set(end_effector_transform)
    my_world.step(render=True)
  1. To record the camera images, you can use the omni.usd.schemas.Camera API to get the camera’s view and save it to a file. For example:
from omni.usd.schemas import Camera

camera_schema = Camera.Get(stage, '/World/Franka/camera')
image = camera_schema.GetImage()
image.save('frame.png')

Please note that the exact method for doing this can vary depending on the specific version of Isaac Sim and the type of robot you are using.

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