KINOVA KORTEX™ API Reference

Description

The official repository contains documentation and examples explaining how to use the KINOVA^® KORTEX™ API client with C++ or Python. The repository has been tested on Windows 10, Ubuntu 16.04, Ubuntu 18.04 and Ubuntu 20.04.

Table of Contents

• Description
• Licensing
• Role of Google Protocol Buffer in KINOVA KORTEX™ API
  • Quick Start for C++ users
  • Quick Start for Python users
  • Quick Start for modbus users
• Download links
• Build and Run instructions
• Reference - Useful Links

Licensing

This repository is licenced under the BSD 3-Clause "Revised" License

Role of Google Protocol Buffer in KINOVA KORTEX™ API

The KINOVA KORTEX™ API uses Google Protocol Buffer message objects¹ to exchange data between client and server.

Google Protocol Buffer offers structured data objects with standard methods for each member field:

• structured, nested objects
• basic types and collections
• getter/setter methods on basic types
• iterators, dimension and appending methods on collections
• many helpers (e.g. serialize/deserialize, I/O functions)

When using the KINOVA KORTEX™ API a developer will need to understand the Google Protocol Buffer feature set to maximize their efficiency.

Quick Start for C++ users

The following links provide some helpful guidance for C++ developer. You will find information about KINOVA KORTEX™ mechanism and some code examples.

• API mechanism
• Transport / Router / Session / Notification
• Device routing
• Servoing modes
• Error management
• Examples

Quick Start for Python users

To run the Python examples you will need to install the Python interpreter and the pip installation module.

Note that for C++ developers it could be useful to install the Python KINOVA KORTEX™ API to allow for quick tests and validations.

Here is some general information about the Python interpreter and the pip module manager.

• Python General Information
• API mechanism
• Transport / Router / Session / Notification
• Device routing
• Servoing modes
• Error management
• Examples

Quick Start for modbus users

Since release 2.3.0, the KINOVA KORTEX™ API offers a modbus interface to communicate with the robot.

All the data is formatted according to this:

• byte order: Big endian

• word order: Little endian

• Modbus ICD

• Modbus examples

Download links

The latest download links for each arm type are reported in the table below:

Arm type	Firmware	Release notes	API
Gen3	2.7.0	2.7.0	2.7.0
Gen3 lite	2.3.2	2.3.2	2.3.0

When following the link to Artifactory, to download the correct C++ API, you have to select the package for your architecture on the left-hand side tree view and then click Download on the right-hand side:

Previous releases

• Release 2.5.2 for Gen3: Firmware, Kortex API
• Release 2.5.0 for Gen3: Firmware, Kortex API
• Release 2.3.2 for Gen3 lite: Firmware, Kortex API
• Release 2.3.1 for Gen3 lite: Firmware, Kortex API
• Release 2.3.0 for Gen3: Firmware, Kortex API
• Release 2.2.0 for Gen3: Firmware, Kortex API
• Release 2.1.1 for Gen3 lite: Firmware, Kortex API
• Release 2.0.1 for Gen3: Firmware, Kortex API
• Release 2.0.0 for Gen3: Firmware, Kortex API

Build and Run instructions

C++ API
Python API

Reference

Useful Links

Kinova home page:	https://www.kinovarobotics.com
Google Protocol Buffers home page:	https://developers.google.com/protocol-buffers