OpenArm Integration¶

dimOS drives the OpenArm bimanual platform (two 7-DOF arms + grippers, Damiao motors, one CAN bus per arm) as a single whole-body device through the generic Damiao adapter stack introduced for OpenYAM.

Related: - Upstream hardware + C++ reference: enactic/openarm_can - Robot model: enactic/openarm_description - How to integrate any new arm: adding_a_custom_arm.md

Architecture¶

ControlCoordinator (100 Hz)
  └── HardwareComponent "openarm" (WHOLE_BODY, 16 joints)
        └── OpenArmDamiaoAdapter          # dimos/hardware/whole_body/openarm_damiao/
              └── DamiaoWholeBodyAdapter  # generic Damiao lifecycle + gravity comp
                    └── can-motor-control # Rust CAN transport + Damiao codec (PyPI)

One adapter owns both arms: bus left (default can1) and bus right (default can0) are commanded together in one synchronized tick per control cycle. The command vector order is openarm_left_joint1..7, openarm_right_joint1..7, left_arm/gripper, right_arm/gripper; gripper joints are normalized (0.0 closed, 1.0 open).

Per arm, shoulder to wrist (send ids 0x01..0x07, feedback send | 0x10): 2x DM8009, 2x DM4340, 3x DM4310, plus a DM4310 gripper at 0x08.

Gravity compensation and planning use the official bimanual OpenArm v2.0 Xacro. dimOS pins the description repository to an immutable commit and checks it out lazily through the robot asset cache. Gravity compensation locks the finger joints and preflights the remaining 14 joints against the declared arm order before enabling the motors.

Planning treats the two arms as one robot with left_arm, right_arm, and both_arms planning groups. The single model supports cross-arm collision checking and synchronized bimanual planning.

Bring-up¶

dimos run openarm-planner-coordinator # mock hardware
dimos run teleop-quest-openarm         # mock Quest teleoperation

dimos hardware can setup can0
dimos hardware can setup can1
dimos run openarm-planner-coordinator --left-can-port can1 --right-can-port can0
dimos run teleop-quest-openarm --left-can-port can1 --right-can-port can0

Linux assigns can0/can1 in USB enumeration order. If the arms come up swapped, exchange the two explicit CLI values. Supplying only one interface is rejected so physical operation can never depend on USB/CAN enumeration defaults.

Blueprints¶

All OpenArm blueprints use the in-memory whole-body adapter by default. Passing both --left-can-port and --right-can-port selects the physical adapter.

Quest controls and safety¶

The Quest blueprint drives both arms through one bimanual IK task. Hold both controllers' primary buttons to engage it. Releasing either button stops arm output and clears both controller references. Each trigger publishes normalized opening to a dedicated gripper task on the same side. Planned trajectories run at a higher priority and preempt streaming teleoperation.

The Damiao adapter derives angular joint limits from the official robot model. It clamps encoder feedback up to 0.05 rad beyond a limit; larger excursions latch a fault, disable the motors, and prevent reactivation until the adapter is reconnected.

Files¶

Validation¶

uv run pytest dimos/hardware/whole_body/openarm_damiao \
    dimos/hardware/whole_body/damiao \
    dimos/robot/manipulators/openarm \
    dimos/hardware/test_adapter_registries.py