❓ FAQ

I am seeing server version mismatch errors. What now?

If you are seeing errors such as

franky.IncompatibleVersionException: libfranka: Incompatible library version (server version: 5, library version: 9)

then your Franka robot is either not on the most recent firmware version, or you are using the older Franka Panda model. In any case, it’s no big deal; just follow our instructions to install the appropriate franky wheels.

Can I use CUDA jointly with franky?

Yes. However, you need to set IGNORE_PREEMPT_RT_PRESENCE=1 during the installation and all subsequent updates of the CUDA drivers on the real-time kernel.

First, make sure that you have rebooted your system after installing the real-time kernel. Then, add IGNORE_PREEMPT_RT_PRESENCE=1 to /etc/environment, call export IGNORE_PREEMPT_RT_PRESENCE=1 to also set it in the current session, and follow the instructions of Nvidia to install CUDA on your system.

If you are on Ubuntu, you can also use this script to install CUDA on your real-time system:

# Download the script
wget https://raw.githubusercontent.com/timschneider42/franky/master/tools/install_cuda_realtime.bash

# Inspect the script to ensure it does what you expect

# Make it executable
chmod +x install_cuda_realtime.bash

# Execute the script
./install_cuda_realtime.bash

Alternatively, if you are a cowboy and do not care about security, you can also use this one-liner to directly call the script without checking it:

bash <(wget -qO- https://raw.githubusercontent.com/timschneider42/franky/master/tools/install_cuda_realtime.bash)

Is your robot connected to a different machine?

No problem! There are two projects which let you run franky remotely via RPC with minimal effort: franky-remote and net_franky.

Please note that I’m not involved in the development of these projects, so I cannot take any liability for its use. If you decide to use it, please ensure that you credit the developers of these projects for their work.