MoveIt 2 Python Library

moveit_py is a Python library for interfacing with the core functionalities of MoveIt 2. The goal of this library is to provide a simplified interface for MoveIt 2 Python users.

This Python library depends on pybind11 for generating Python bindings. The project is split into the following folders:

├── docs                 # Sphinx documentation files
├── moveit               # Python library stubs; Python functionalities built on top of bindings
├── src/moveit           # pybind11 binding code
├── test                 # Unit and integration testing

Tutorials

We are continuing to add tutorials for the MoveIt 2 Python library. Of particular note is the fact that one can interact with MoveIt interactively since Python is an interpreted language, our tutorials demonstrate this through leveraging Jupyter notebooks. For further details please consult the MoveIt 2 tutorials site.

Contribution Guidelines

Community contributions are welcome.

For detailed contribution guidelines please consult the official MoveIt contribution guidelines.

Citing the Library

If you use this library in your work please use the following citation:

@software{fagan2023moveitpy,
  author = {Fagan, Peter David},
  title = {{MoveIt 2 Python Library: A Software Library for Robotics Education and Research}},
  url = {https://github.com/moveit/moveit2/tree/main/moveit_py},
  year = {2023}
}

Acknowledgements

Thank you to the Google Summer of Code program for sponsoring the development of this Python library. Thank you to the MoveIt maintainers Henning Kayser (@henningkayser) and Michael Goerner (@v4hn) for their guidance as supervisors of my GSoC project. Finally thank you to the ML Collective for providing compute support for this project.

Changelog for package moveit_py

2.13.2 (2025-04-16)

2.13.1 (2025-04-15)

• Allow conversion from list[str] to std::vector<std::string> (#3423)
• feat: add remapping argument to MoveItPy initialization (#3367)
• Contributors: Jens Vanhooydonck, Kazuya Oguma

2.13.0 (2025-02-15)

• move TrajectoryExecutionManager::clear() to private (#3226)
• Update CMakeLists.txt (#3218)
• Contributors: Dongya Jiang, mosfet80

2.12.0 (2024-11-29)

• Enhancement/use hpp for headers (#3113)
• Add use_padding flag + deprecate checkCollisionUnpadded() functions (#3088)
• Fixed Typo get_trajectory_execution_manager in planning.pyi file (#3029)
• Contributors: Jens Vanhooydonck, Sebastian Jahr, Tom Noble

2.11.0 (2024-09-16)

• Add python bindings for saving and loading geometry from a .scene file (#2971)
• Add namespace to MoveitPy (#2884)
• New planning scene message (#2885)
• Contributors: Abhiroop Bhavsar, Bilal Gill, Jens Vanhooydonck

2.10.0 (2024-06-13)

• Migrate ros-planning org to moveit (#2847)
  • Rename github.com/ros-planning -> github.com/moveit
  • Rename ros-planning.github.io -> moveit.github.io
  • Rename ros-planning organization in docker and CI workflow files
  • ghcr.io/ros-planning -> ghcr.io/moveit
  • github.repository == 'moveit/*''
• Unify log names (#2720) Co-authored-by: Abishalini Sivaraman <<abi.gpuram@gmail.com>>
• Get configuration values of traj_exec_man (#2702)
  • (ros_planning) get configuration values of traj_exec_man
  • (py) get configuration values of traj_exec_man
• CMake format and lint in pre-commit (#2683)
• log after rclcpp init
• Contributors: Henning Kayser, Matthijs van der Burgh, Robert Haschke, Sebastian Jahr, Tyler Weaver, peterdavidfagan

2.9.0 (2024-01-09)

• [PSM] Process collision object color when adding object trough the planning scene monitor (#2567)
  • Added an optional Collision Object color object to set the coller of the collision object when adding the collision object trough the PSM.
  • Fixes for clang-tidy warnings
  • fix pre-commit
  • Pass by reference
• Node logging for the rest of MoveIt (#2599)
• Fix moveit_py Policy docs build (#2584)
• init policy class (#2494) update command interfaces Update moveit_py/moveit/policies/policy.py Co-authored-by: Sebastian Castro <<4603398+sea-bass@users.noreply.github.com>> Update moveit_py/moveit/policies/policy.py Co-authored-by: Sebastian Castro <<4603398+sea-bass@users.noreply.github.com>> Update moveit_py/moveit/policies/policy.py Co-authored-by: Sebastian Castro <<4603398+sea-bass@users.noreply.github.com>> Update moveit_py/moveit/policies/policy.py Co-authored-by: Sebastian Castro <<4603398+sea-bass@users.noreply.github.com>> Update moveit_py/moveit/policies/policy.py Co-authored-by: Sebastian Castro <<4603398+sea-bass@users.noreply.github.com>> Update moveit_py/moveit/policies/policy.py Co-authored-by: Sebastian Castro <<4603398+sea-bass@users.noreply.github.com>> update script description
• (moveit_py) Extend Trajectory Execution Manager (#2569) * (moveit_py) Extend Trajectory Execution Manager Added part of the functions from #2442
  • PR-remarks

  * Update moveit_py/src/moveit/moveit_ros/trajectory_execution_manager/trajectory_execution_manager.cpp Co-authored-by: Matthijs van der Burgh <<matthijs.vander.burgh@live.nl>> * Update moveit_py/src/moveit/moveit_ros/trajectory_execution_manager/trajectory_execution_manager.cpp Co-authored-by: Matthijs van der Burgh <<matthijs.vander.burgh@live.nl>>

  • Update planning.pyi - Removed unused import

  * Fixes whitespace issues ---------Co-authored-by: Matthijs van der Burgh <<matthijs.vander.burgh@live.nl>>

• (moveit_py) execute needs a [gil_scoped_release]{.title-ref} (#2573)
• Fix trajectory execution manager comments for docs builds (#2563)
• [PSM] Add proccess Collision Object to PSM and request planning scene to moveit py to allow syncing of mutliple PSM (#2536)
  • PlanningSceneMonitor and request planning scene to moveit py to allow syncing of multiple planning scene monitors
  • pre-commit fixes

  * Update moveit_ros/planning/planning_scene_monitor/src/planning_scene_monitor.cpp First catch empty scene to not have a unneeded indents. Co-authored-by: Sebastian Jahr <<sebastian.jahr@tuta.io>> * Removed unneeded callback functions ---------Co-authored-by: Sebastian Jahr <<sebastian.jahr@picknik.ai>>

• Allow editing allowed collision matrix in python + fix get_entry function (#2551) Co-authored-by: Sebastian Jahr <<sebastian.jahr@picknik.ai>>
• Update README.md (#2552) replace moveit wiht moveit_py
• (moveit_py) fix pyi files (#2526)
  • (moveit_py) fix planning.pyi
  • (moveit_py) add missing functions to robot_trajectory.pyi
  • (moveit_py) fix command to generate stubs
• (moveit_py) Add Trajectory Execution Manager (#2406)
  • (moveit_py) add trajectory execution manager
  • (moveit_py) add __bool_ to ExecutionStatus
  • (moveit_py) Update copyright header of changed files
  • (moveit_py) add comment referencing issue
  • Rename init_trajectory_execution_manager -> initTrajectoryExecutionManager
  • (moveit_py) python functions snake_case

  * (moveit_py) fix styling ---------

• (moveit_py) add update_frame_transforms to planning_scene_monitor (#2521)
• (moveit_py) remove unused applyPlanningScene (#2505)
• [moveit_py] add missing constructor of CollisionResult (#2500) Co-authored-by: Dongya Jiang <<jiangdongya@xiaoyubot.com>>
• Fix wrong rename of set_start_state in 63e0c3a (#2497)
• Add new clang-tidy style rules (#2177)
• Finally fix errors building new RobotTrajectory Python bindings docs (#2481)
  • Add missing parenthesis in Python bindings docstring
  • Fix more docstrings
• [Python] Add Allowed Collision Matrix to planning scene and optional planning scene during planning (#2387)
• More fixes to Python bindings docstrings (#2474)
• Fix docstring spacing in newly added trajectory Python bindings (#2471)
• (moveit_py) node can have multiple param files (#2393) A node is often started with multiple param files. Using [list.index]{.title-ref} only returns the first occurrence. The new code searches for all occurrences.
• [Python] Add RetimeTrajectory to RobotTrajectory (#2411)
  • [Python] Add RetimeTrajectory to RobotTrajectory

  * Split retime trajecotry in multiple functions Moved logic to trajectory_tools Added Docstrings * Removed retime function from python binding ---------Co-authored-by: Sebastian Jahr <<sebastian.jahr@picknik.ai>>

• Merge branch 'main' into dependabot/github_actions/SonarSource/sonarcloud-github-c-cpp-2
• Contributors: Dongya Jiang, Jens Vanhooydonck, Matthijs van der Burgh, Nils-Christian Iseke, Peter David Fagan, Sebastian Castro, Sebastian Jahr, Tyler Weaver

2.8.0 (2023-09-10)

• Fix moveit_py rclcpp::init() (#2223) * Fix moveit_py rclcpp::init() Rclcpp has been initialized without args which was problematic for some use cases like clock simulation. Parameters like use_sim_time:=true need to be passed to rclcpp, also NodeOptions access the global rcl state on construction. Co-authored-by: Jafar Uruç <<jafar.uruc@gmail.com>>

• Export moveit_py_utils' cmake target (#2207)
• fix typo in name
• Contributors: Henning Kayser, Michael Görner, Robert Haschke

2.7.4 (2023-05-18)

• Rename named_target_state_values to get_named_target_state_values (#2181)
• Deprecate MoveItCpp::execute() use of blocking flag (#1984)
• Add Python binding for link_model_names and get_only_one_end_effector_tip + update stubs (#1985)
• Contributors: Jafar, Lucas Wendland

2.7.3 (2023-04-24)

2.7.2 (2023-04-18)

• Fix Formatting in Python Documentation (#2085)
  • fix formatting in docs

  * Fix clang-tidy warnings ---------Co-authored-by: Tyler Weaver <<maybe@tylerjw.dev>> Co-authored-by: Tyler Weaver <<tyler@picknik.ai>> Co-authored-by: Sebastian Jahr <<sebastian.jahr@picknik.ai>>

• Update moveit_py 'get_planning_scene_monitor' to return NonConst (#2098) Co-authored-by: Jafar <<cafer.abdi@gmail.com>>
• Fix MoveItCpp issues (port from MoveIt1) (#2001) * Fix MoveitCpp's const member accessors They should return a ConstPtr instead of a const Ptr&!
  • Fix SEVERE ClassLoader warning when releasing MoveItCpp
  • PSM was released before copy of its RobotModel -> removed extra RobotModel copy
  • clearContents() was broken:
  • resets in wrong order: psm_ should be last

  - trajectory_execution_manager_ was missing I suggest to omit clearContents() and rely on the (correct) ordering of member variables. While this is not explicit, we ensure that we don't miss any newly added member variable. Fix: https://github.com/ros-planning/moveit2/issues/1597 ---------Co-authored-by: Sebastian Jahr <<sebastian.jahr@picknik.ai>> Co-authored-by: Jafar <<cafer.abdi@gmail.com>> Co-authored-by: Sebastian Jahr <<sebastian.jahr@tuta.io>> Co-authored-by: JafarAbdi <<jafar.uruc@gmail.com>>

• Extract parallel planning from moveit cpp (#2043)
  • Add parallel_planning_interface
  • Add parallel planning interface
  • Rename package to pipeline_planning_interface
  • Move plan_responses_container into own header + source file
  • Add plan_responses_contrainer source file
  • Add solution selection and stopping criterion function files
  • Remove parallel planning from moveit_cpp
  • Move parallel planning into planning package
  • Update moveit_cpp
  • Drop planning_interface changes
  • Add documentation
  • Update other moveit packages
  • Remove removed header
  • Address CI complains
  • Address clang-tidy complains
  • Address clang-tidy complains 2
  • Address clang-tidy complains 3
  • Extract planning pipeline map creation function from moveit_cpp
  • Cleanup comment
  • Use const moveit::core::RobotModelConstPtr&
  • Formatting
  • Add header descriptions
  • Remove superfluous TODOs
  • Cleanup
• moveit_py citation (#2029)
• Added set_robot_trajectory_msg to python bindings (#2050)
• Contributors: Jens Vanhooydonck, Peter David Fagan, Robert Haschke, Sebastian Jahr