Scikit-Robot is a lightweight pure-Python library for robotic kinematics, motion planning, visualization and control.

You may need to install some dependencies by apt-get install:

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install libspatialindex-dev freeglut3-dev libsuitesparse-dev libblas-dev liblapack-dev

Then,

pip install scikit-robot

If you would like to use Pybullet Interface, open3d and fast-simplification for mesh simplification,

pip install scikit-robot[all]

Scikit-robot provides a unified command-line interface through the skr command, which consolidates all robot-related tools into a single entry point.

You can use the skr command with various subcommands:

# View all available commands
skr --help

# Visualize URDF models
skr visualize-urdf ~/.skrobot/pr2_description/pr2.urdf --viewer trimesh

# Convert URDF mesh files
skr convert-urdf-mesh robot.urdf --output converted_robot.urdf

# Change URDF root link
skr change-urdf-root robot.urdf new_root_link output.urdf

# Calculate URDF hash
skr urdf-hash robot.urdf

# Modularize URDF files
skr modularize-urdf robot.urdf --output modular_robot.urdf

# Visualize mesh files
skr visualize-mesh mesh_file.stl

# Convert wheel collision models
skr convert-wheel-collision robot.urdf --output converted.urdf

# Generate robot class from URDF geometry
skr generate-robot-class robot.urdf --output MyRobot.py

For backward compatibility, the original commands are still available:

# These commands work the same as their skr equivalents
visualize-urdf ~/.skrobot/pr2_description/pr2.urdf --viewer trimesh
convert-urdf-mesh robot.urdf --output converted_robot.urdf

To visualize a URDF model and inspect your robot's configuration:

skr visualize-urdf ~/.skrobot/pr2_description/pr2.urdf --viewer trimesh

If you experience performance issues with the default viewer, try pyrender for smoother visualization:

skr visualize-urdf ~/.skrobot/pr2_description/pr2.urdf --viewer pyrender

For a web-based viewer with interactive joint angle sliders, use viser:

skr visualize-urdf ~/.skrobot/pr2_description/pr2.urdf --viewer viser

Running these commands should open a viewer displaying your robot's 3D model. Below is a sample image of what you should expect.

The viser viewer opens in your browser and provides GUI sliders for manipulating joint angles in real-time:

The viser viewer also supports interactive inverse kinematics (IK). Drag the transform controls at each end-effector to solve IK in real-time:

If you want to build your own robot from scratch, you can refer to the How to Create URDF from CAD Software documentation.

You can try scikit-robot directly in your browser without any installation:

This interactive notebook demonstrates:

• Multiple robot models (Kuka, Fetch, Nextage, PR2, Panda) with synchronized animation
• Grasp and pull manipulation task with inverse kinematics
• 3D visualization in Jupyter/Colab with smooth updates

Scikit-robot includes JupyterNotebookViewer for interactive 3D visualization in Jupyter notebooks and Google Colab:

import skrobot

# Create robot and viewer
robot = skrobot.models.PR2()
viewer = skrobot.viewers.JupyterNotebookViewer(height=600)
viewer.add(robot)

# Display and animate
viewer.show()

for _ in range(10):
    robot.rarm.angle_vector([0.1, 0.2, 0.3, 0.4, 0.5, 0.6, 0.7])
    viewer.redraw()  # Smooth updates without flickering

See examples/notebooks/ for more examples.

• Loading robot model from URDF (examples/robot_models.py)
• Forward and inverse kinematics (examples/trimesh_scene_viewer.py examples/pr2_inverse_kinematics.py)
• Collision detection
• Interactive viewer (examples/trimesh_scene_viewer.py)
• Jupyter notebook viewer (examples/notebooks/)
• Pybullet and ROS command interface (examples/pybullet_robot_interface.py)
• Forward and inverse dynamics
• Path planning (examples/collision_free_trajectory.py)