FORTE is a minimal pip-installable Python package for real-time force estimation and slip detection with a custom 6-channel analog tactile gripper.

This repository ships two demos:

forte/                    # main package
├── sensing/              # FORTE_sensor + SensorDataBuffer (HDF5 logging)
└── runtime/              # shared ring buffers + force_and_slip pipeline
forte_gripper/            # Dynamixel-based FORTE_gripper control package
configs/
├── sensor/FORTE_sensor.yaml
└── actuator/FORTE_gripper.yaml
models/SVR_ckpt.pkl       # SVR force regressor checkpoint
examples/                 # the two demos above

Python 3.9+. From the repo root:

pip install -e .

This installs two importable top-level packages — forte and forte_gripper — plus all runtime dependencies (numpy, scipy, joblib, pyserial, PyQt5, pyqtgraph, omegaconf, h5py, pynput, matplotlib).

The Alt+Right keybinding in the showcase demo drives a Franka arm via Deoxys. It is not required for the rest of the demo and is imported lazily — the script will print a warning and continue without it.

Install Deoxys separately from UT-Austin-RPL/deoxys_control.

Edit the YAMLs under configs/ if your ports differ.

Add your user to dialout, then log out and back in:

sudo usermod -aG dialout $USER

echo 1 | sudo tee /sys/module/usbcore/parameters/usbfs_memory_mb

for cpu in /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu*/cpufreq/scaling_governor; do
  echo performance | sudo tee "$cpu"
done

# Vis-only: sensor + force + slip + plots
python examples/force_slip_vis_realtime.py

# Vis + gripper (keyboard-driven), optional Franka arm
python examples/gripper_showcase_vis_realtime.py

Both scripts accept --model PATH to point at a different force model checkpoint (default: models/SVR_ckpt.pkl).

Re-upload any sketch from the Arduino IDE to free the port, or replug the USB cable.

ls -l /dev/ttyACM0      # expect group `dialout` with rw
sudo usermod -aG dialout $USER && newgrp dialout