# Vision-Guided Pick-and-Place with the xArm6

The workshop is structured as six sequential phases, each ending with checkpoints you can verify before moving on. The workshop has two milestones: by the end of Phase 4 you drive the robot from your own code through a static, pre-planned sequence (milestone one), and by the end of Phase 5 you close the loop with live perception so the robot detects, picks, and places blocks on its own (milestone two).

## What you’ll build

You will configure an xArm6 robotic arm fitted with a two-finger gripper and a wrist-mounted Intel RealSense depth camera. A shape-detection vision service finds blocks, and the motion service plans collision-free picks that place each block in the bin. By the end, you will have a Python script you run from your laptop and a deployable module that drives the full detect-pick-place loop.

## Required hardware

- **uFactory xArm6**: the six-axis robotic arm that picks and places the blocks.
- **Intel RealSense D435**: the wrist-mounted depth camera that detects block positions by shape.
- **uFactory finger gripper**: the end-effector that grasps the blocks.
- **System76 Meerkat**: the on-robot mini-PC that runs the Viam machine server.

## Phases

Phases 1 through 5 are the core workshop. Phase 6 is optional.

1. **[Platform mental model](https://docs.viam.com/tutorials/pick-and-place/platform-mental-model/)** (~20 min)
2. **[Configure resources and explore the app](https://docs.viam.com/tutorials/pick-and-place/configure-resources/)** (~15 min)
3. **[Static positions and obstacles](https://docs.viam.com/tutorials/pick-and-place/static-positions/)** (~20 min)
4. **[Control the robot from Python](https://docs.viam.com/tutorials/pick-and-place/control-the-robot-from-python/)** (~15 min, milestone one)
5. **[Perception-guided picking](https://docs.viam.com/tutorials/pick-and-place/perception-guided-picking/)** (~22 min, milestone two)
6. **[Inline module](https://docs.viam.com/tutorials/pick-and-place/inline-module/)** (~20 min, optional)

When you finish, the **[wrap-up](https://docs.viam.com/tutorials/pick-and-place/wrap-up/)** reviews what you built and points to next steps.

## Companion code

All supporting files for this workshop live in the [viam-devrel/pick-and-place](https://github.com/viam-devrel/pick-and-place) repository. You do not need it to start, but the prerequisites below reference its `scripts/` project, and later phases pull from it.

- `config/` holds a machine config fragment and an obstacles template. Use them to check your work after you configure resources by hand.
- `scripts/` holds the starter script for Phase 4 and the reference solution for Phase 5.

## Prerequisites

This is a self-serve workshop, so confirm each of the following before you start:

- **Python 3.10 or newer.** Install it with [uv](https://docs.astral.sh/uv/getting-started/installation/) (recommended) or from [python.org](https://www.python.org/downloads/).
- **The Viam Python SDK.** The companion `scripts/` project already declares `viam-sdk`, so `uv run` installs it for you in Phase 4. See the [Python SDK docs](https://python.viam.dev/) for reference. Pip works too if you prefer it.
- **A working terminal** on the machine you will run the Phase 4 and Phase 5 scripts from, typically your personal computer rather than the robot’s Meerkat.
- **A Viam account with an online machine.** Log in at [app.viam.com](https://app.viam.com/), [create a machine](https://docs.viam.com/set-up-a-machine/first-machine/), and confirm the green **Live** indicator before you begin. “Online” means `viam-server` is running on the machine and reachable from the Viam app, so the app can deliver config and you can reach it from your own computer; the green **Live** indicator is how you confirm that connection.

### Validate your environment

Before starting Phase 4, confirm your environment is ready:

```sh
python3 --version   # 3.10 or newer
uv run --with viam-sdk python -c "import viam; print(viam.__version__)"   # prints a version
```

If either command fails, revisit the checklist above before continuing.

### Where to start

- **Hardware ready (`viam-server` running):** start at [Phase 1](https://docs.viam.com/tutorials/pick-and-place/platform-mental-model/).
- **Provisioning your own hardware:** complete [the hardware setup](https://docs.viam.com/set-up-a-machine/first-machine/), then return here for [Phase 1](https://docs.viam.com/tutorials/pick-and-place/platform-mental-model/).