Community & Resources
Ask questions, share your builds, find documentation, and connect with researchers using the AgileX Piper at SVRC and around the world.
Community Channels
Whether you're stuck on CAN bus setup, building a teleoperation system, or training your first manipulation policy — there's a place to get help.
SVRC Forum
Ask questions, get answers from researchers and engineers who use the Piper at SVRC. Tag your post with "AgileX Piper" for fast routing.
Open Forum →GitHub Issues — piper_sdk
Report SDK bugs, request features, or browse known issues with the official Python SDK. Search before opening a duplicate.
Open Issues →GitHub Issues — piper_ros
ROS Noetic driver issues, MoveIt configuration questions, and Gazebo simulation bugs tracked here.
Open Issues →General Robotics Forum
Broader discussion about manipulation, teleoperation, imitation learning, and hardware integration across all platforms we support.
Browse Forum →Events & Workshops
Hands-on sessions with the AgileX Piper at our Mountain View, CA facility. Bring your laptop and we'll help you get to first motion.
See Events →Direct Support
For custom data collection engagements, integration consulting, or booking dedicated lab time with the Piper — contact us directly.
Contact Us →Developer Resources
Everything you need to go from unboxing to trained manipulation policy.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many degrees of freedom does the AgileX Piper have?
The AgileX Piper has 6 degrees of freedom (6DOF) plus an optional gripper. It communicates over CAN bus at 1 Mbps and is controlled via the piper_sdk Python library.
What communication interface does the Piper use?
The Piper uses CAN bus communication at 1,000,000 bps (1 Mbps). On Linux, configure the CAN interface with sudo ip link set can0 type can bitrate 1000000 && sudo ip link set can0 up. A USB-to-CAN module (e.g., CANable, GS_USB) is required to connect to a PC.
How do I install the Piper Python SDK?
Install via PyPI with pip3 install piper_sdk, or from source by cloning github.com/agilexrobotics/piper_sdk and running pip install -e .. Python 3.6+ is required. Ubuntu 18.04, 20.04, and 22.04 are officially supported.
Can I control the Piper with ROS2?
The piper_ros package provides a ROS Noetic driver with MoveIt, Gazebo simulation, and standard ROS topics for joint states, end-effector pose, and gripper control. See the ROS topics table for the full interface.
Can I teleoperate the Piper with a Meta Quest 3?
Yes. The Quest 3–Piper architecture uses UDP (ports 8888/8889) from a Unity app on the Quest to a Python UDP server that calls the Piper SDK. The Unity side (VRHandPoseSender, VRGripperController) is largely reusable from xArm setups — only the robot controller layer needs to be swapped to piper_sdk. See the VR Teleop setup step for details.
Does SVRC have the Piper available for hands-on use?
Yes. The AgileX Piper is available at our Mountain View, CA facility for hands-on evaluation, data collection sessions, and integration workshops. Contact us to book a session.
What AI models work with data collected from the Piper?
ACT (Action Chunking Transformer), Diffusion Policy, and OpenVLA all work well with Piper demonstration data exported in RLDS or LeRobot format. The SVRC Platform supports end-to-end workflows from Piper episode recording to policy training and deployment.