Demo

Example control for the Pollen Robotics "AmazingHand" (a.k.a. AH!)

Running with pixi

Prerequisites: install Pixi. Rust is needed for real hardware demos (AHControl). Before running real hardware demos, check the serial port in the dataflow YAML: the default is Linux (/dev/ttyACM0); on Windows use your COM port (e.g. COM3). Run pixi run check-devices to list webcam indices and serial ports.

From the AmazingHand repository root (Git Bash on Windows, or a Unix shell on Linux/macOS):

pixi install
pixi run dora up   # start daemon (in a separate terminal)

Webcam hand tracking (simulation only):

pixi run dora build Demo/dataflow_tracking_simu.yml   # once
pixi run dora run Demo/dataflow_tracking_simu.yml

Webcam hand tracking (real hardware, new config):

pixi run dora build Demo/dataflow_tracking_real_team_julia.yml   # once
pixi run dora run Demo/dataflow_tracking_real_team_julia.yml

Same demo using previous config

pixi run dora build Demo/dataflow_tracking_real.yml   # once
pixi run dora run Demo/dataflow_tracking_real.yml

The hand config is set in the dataflow YAML (hand_controller args): change --config and --serialport as needed. You can use a legacy file under AHControl/config/r_hand*.toml or the repo canonical calibration (e.g. --config config/calibration/r_hand_team_julia.toml when running from repo root). See AHControl and canonical_hand_config_design.md for details.

Linux: add your user to the dialout group for serial port access: sudo usermod -a -G dialout $USER (log out and back in). If your hand is on a different port (e.g. /dev/ttyUSB0), edit the dataflow YAML and change the --serialport arg.

Windows: before running real hardware demos, edit the dataflow YAML (dataflow_tracking_real.yml, dataflow_tracking_real_team_julia.yml, or dataflow_tracking_real_2hands.yml): set path to target/debug/AHControl.exe (not AHControl), and change --serialport to your COM port (e.g. COM3). Run pixi run build-ahcontrol first to build the binary. To find your COM port: powershell -c "[System.IO.Ports.SerialPort]::getportnames()" in Git Bash or PowerShell. Use Git Bash or a shell where pixi is available (see DEVELOPMENT.md).

Finger angle control (simulation):

pixi run dora build Demo/dataflow_angle_simu.yml   # once
pixi run dora run Demo/dataflow_angle_simu.yml

The dataflow build steps install HandTracking and AHSimulation in editable mode and build AHControl when needed.

How to use (uv)

Install Rust, uv, and dora-rs. Clone the repository, start the daemon (dora up), and from the Demo directory run:

• uv venv --python 3.12
• To run the webcam hand tracking demo in simulation only:
  • dora build dataflow_tracking_simu.yml --uv (needs to be done only once)
  • dora run dataflow_tracking_simu.yml --uv
• To run the webcam hand tracking demo with real hardware:
  • dora build dataflow_tracking_real.yml --uv (needs to be done only once)
  • dora run dataflow_tracking_real.yml --uv
  • On Windows: edit the dataflow YAML for path (use AHControl.exe) and --serialport (use your COM port) as in the pixi section above.
• To run a simple example to control the finger angles in simulation:
  • dora build dataflow_angle_simu.yml --uv (needs to be done only once)
  • dora run dataflow_angle_simu.yml --uv

Hand Setup

Adapt the hand configuration for your setup: either the legacy r_hand.toml (and copies like r_hand_team_julia.toml) under AHControl/config, or the repo canonical calibration files under config/calibration/ (see canonical_hand_config_design.md). Use the tools in AHControl to calibrate.

Details

• AHControl contains a dora-rs node to control the motors, along with some useful tools to configure them.
• AHSimulation contains a dora-rs node to simulate the hand and get the inverse kinematics.
• HandTracking contains a dora-rs node to track hands from a webcam and use it as target to control AH!.