First install the dependencies:

For unit testing, you'll need the googletest source package. Refer to Install googletest.

Install kinematics-dynamics on Ubuntu (working on all tested versions)

Our software integrates the previous dependencies. Note that you will be prompted for your password upon using sudo a couple of times:

cd  # go home
mkdir -p repos; cd repos  # create $HOME/repos if it does not exist; then, enter it
git clone https://github.com/roboticslab-uc3m/kinematics-dynamics.git  # download kinematics-dynamics sources from GitHub
cd kinematics-dynamics; mkdir build; cd build; cmake ..  # configure the project
make -j  # compile
sudo make install; sudo ldconfig  # install

Use ccmake instead of cmake for additional options.

Install Bindings

Swig is needed in order to build all language bindings. Refer to Install SWIG.

Install Python Bindings

First, install Python development packages.

sudo apt update

sudo apt install libpython3-dev # not installed by default on clean distros

You can follow these steps after installing kinematics-dynamics, or just activate the correct CMake options during the initial build.

cd  # go home
cd repos/kinematics-dynamics/build  # this should already exist, see previous section
cmake .. -DCREATE_PYTHON=ON -DCREATE_BINDINGS_PYTHON=ON  # enable Python bindings
make -j  # compile
sudo make install; sudo ldconfig; cd  # install and go home

Note: You'll probably want YARP Python bindings (perma), too.

Install Python bindings (checking)

Check your installation via (should output nothing; if bad, you will see a ModuleNotFoundError):

python3 -c "import kinematics_dynamics"

Install Python bindings (troubleshooting)

CMake may not detect the correct Python3 installation directory. Toggle t in ccmake to see additional configuration. The CMAKE_INSTALL_PYTHONDIR variable may point to a wrong path such as lib/python3/dist-packages (relative to CMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX, which usually resolves to /usr/local). You must pick the python3.x directory instead (check via python3 -V); on Ubuntu 20.04 and Python 3.8, this configuration variable should be changed to lib/python3.8/dist-packages.

Even more!

Done! You are now probably interested in one of the following links:

Simulation and Basic Control: Now what can I do?