Motion planning reference

The motion service turns a high-level “move to this pose” request into a collision-free joint trajectory. This reference documents what you configure, what the API exposes, and the formats and algorithms it uses under the hood. For conceptual background, see How motion planning works; for task-based guidance, start from the section landing.

Configuration and API: where most readers start.

Motion service
Configure the motion service for planning and executing component movements.

API
The motion service API for planning and executing component movements.

CLI commands
Reference for the Viam CLI commands that inspect the frame system and test motion from the command line.

Formats and machinery: the underlying schemas the service operates on.

Frame system API
The RPCs for querying and transforming frame system poses live on the robot service, not a standalone frame system service.

Kinematics
Set up the kinematic model that describes how your arm's joints and links create motion.

Orientation vectors
Reference for specifying component orientation using orientation vectors and other rotation formats.

Motion planning algorithms
The two-stage planning strategy the built-in motion service uses and the tuning surfaces exposed to callers.