V-REPSim provides a high-level interface based on the V-REP remote API for controlling V-REP simulations from an external Python program.
For V-REPSim to operate successfully, the following V-REP files (or,
alternatively, links to them) have to exist in the current directory so that
the V-REP remote API could be used (here, VREP_DIR denotes the directory in
which V-REP is installed):
vrep.py(original file in:VREP_DIR/programming/remoteApiBindings/python/python/);vrepConst.py(original file in:VREP_DIR/programming/remoteApiBindings/python/python/);[remoteApi.dll | remoteApi.dylib | remoteApi.so](original file in the relevant subdirectory in:VREP_DIR/programming/remoteApiBindings/lib/lib/).
The example script below demonstrates how V-REPSim can be used to:
- connect to a V-REP remote API server;
- retrieve V-REP simulation time step;
- create a representation of a model simulated in V-REP;
- start a V-REP simulation in synchronous operation mode;
- trigger a V-REP simulation step;
- stop the V-REP simulation;
- disconnect from the V-REP remote API server.
For this script to run successfully, V-REP simulator must first be launched with a continuous remote API server service started and a scene file must be opened in the simulator.
import vrep
import vrepsim as vrs
vrep_sim = vrs.Simulator('127.0.0.1', 19997, verbose=True)
with vrep_sim:
# Retrieve V-REP simulation time step
sim_dt = vrep_sim.get_sim_dt()
# Create representation of the floor and print its position
floor = vrs.Model("ResizableFloor_5_25")
print("Floor position: {}".format(floor.get_position()))
# Perform operations not provided by V-REPSim by using V-REP remote API
# directly, e.g.,
res = vrep.simxAddStatusbarMessage(
vrep_sim.client_id, "Control from external Python program enabled.",
vrep.simx_opmode_oneshot)
if res not in (vrep.simx_return_ok, vrep.simx_return_novalue_flag):
print("Could not add a message to the status bar.")
# Start V-REP simulation in synchronous operation mode
vrep_sim.start_sim()
try:
# Run a simulation for the specified time
sim_time = 0.0
while sim_time < 10.0:
# Perform some operations using V-REPSim or V-REP remote API
# directly
# ...
# Trigger next V-REP simulation step
vrep_sim.trig_sim_step()
sim_time += sim_dt
finally:
# Stop V-REP simulation
vrep_sim.stop_sim()