HEBI Motor Virtual Spring-Mass-Damper Demo

This repository contains code and exercises for the hands-on session with HEBI motors.
You will implement and test a virtual spring–mass–damper (SMD) system on a real motor.

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🚀 Requirements

• Python 3.9+
• HEBI Python API (hebi-py)
• matplotlib (for plotting)
• scipy (for simulations)
• numpy (pinned to 1.26.0 for compatibility)

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🔧 Installation

1. Clone this repository and move into the folder:

   git clone https://github.com/smartrobotsdesignlab/tmej_smd_hebi.git
   cd tmej_smd_hebi

2. Create a virtual environment (recommended):

python3 -m venv venv
source venv/bin/activate   # (Linux/Mac)
venv\Scripts\activate      # (Windows)

3. Install dependencies:

pip install -r requirements.txt

This will ensure numpy==1.26.0 is used.

4. ⚠️ NumPy Compatibility Note If you see an error like:

A module that was compiled using NumPy 1.x cannot be run in NumPy 2.x

It means your environment upgraded to NumPy 2.x. Fix it by forcing NumPy 1.26.0:

pip install numpy==1.26.0

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▶️ Usage

• Open one of the example scripts (e.g. SMDStepSim.py).
• Adjust parameters (k, c, m)
• Run the script and observe behaviour:

python SMDStepSim.py

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✅ Notes

• The motor initializes with its current position as the zero reference.
• Safety limits (max torque, max displacement) are included to protect hardware.
• 🎉 Have fun experimenting with the virtual spring–mass–damper system and comparing theory vs. practice!