How to rotate pymunk joints at will?

Question

I'm trying to create a walking spider like this:

I considered using a SimpleMotor at the pink and red joints and control them using the rate function. But when I tried, I get an error that the function is not callable.

self.motorJoint1.rate(0.0) TypeError: 'float' object is not callable

I don't see any other functions in the pymunk API that allow controlling the joints at will. Is there really no function or am I missing something?

Basically in the run loop I want to specify rotations to the joints at certain points of time, to not just make the spider walk, but to eventually be able to use Neural Networks to allow it to experiment with various configurations of leg positions and figure out which ones can make it walk:

angle1 = 30
angle2 = 10
redJoint1.rotate(angle1)
pinkJoint2.rotate(angle2)
if angle1 < 50:
    angle1 = angle1 + 1

Is it possible at all to achieve such a level of control over joints using Pymunk? To be able to stop moving the legs (without needing to put the body to sleep), or to rotate the leg joints to whatever angle the spider 'wishes to' at any point in time? Sample code would be a great help.

Answer 1

From the servo example I took a hint and implemented this basic leg:

import sys

import pygame
from pygame.locals import USEREVENT, QUIT, KEYDOWN, KEYUP, K_s, K_r, K_q, K_ESCAPE, K_UP, K_DOWN, K_RIGHT, K_LEFT
from pygame.color import THECOLORS

import pymunk
from pymunk import Vec2d
import pymunk.pygame_util

class Simulator(object):

    def __init__(self):
        self.display_flags = 0
        self.display_size = (600, 600)

        self.space = pymunk.Space()
        self.space.gravity = (0.0, -1900.0)
        #self.space.damping = 0.999 # to prevent it from blowing up.

        # Pymunk physics coordinates start from the lower right-hand corner of the screen.
        self.ground_y = 100
        ground = pymunk.Segment(self.space.static_body, (5, self.ground_y), (595, self.ground_y), 1.0)
        ground.friction = 1.0
        self.space.add(ground)

        self.screen = None

        self.draw_options = None

    def reset_bodies(self):
        for body in self.space.bodies:
            if not hasattr(body, 'start_position'):
                continue
            body.position = Vec2d(body.start_position)
            body.force = 0, 0
            body.torque = 0
            body.velocity = 0, 0
            body.angular_velocity = 0
            body.angle = body.start_angle

    def draw(self):        
        self.screen.fill(THECOLORS["white"])### Clear the screen        
        self.space.debug_draw(self.draw_options)### Draw space        
        pygame.display.flip()### All done, lets flip the display

    def main(self):
        pygame.init()
        self.screen = pygame.display.set_mode(self.display_size, self.display_flags)
        width, height = self.screen.get_size()
        self.draw_options = pymunk.pygame_util.DrawOptions(self.screen)

        def to_pygame(p):            
            return int(p.x), int(-p.y+height) #Small hack to convert pymunk to pygame coordinates
        def from_pygame(p):
            return to_pygame(p)

        clock = pygame.time.Clock()
        running = True
        font = pygame.font.Font(None, 16)

        # Create the spider
        chassisXY = Vec2d(self.display_size[0]/2, self.ground_y+100)
        chWd = 70; chHt = 50
        chassisMass = 10
        
        legWd_a = 50; legHt_a = 5
        legWd_b = 100; legHt_b = 5
        legMass = 1
        relativeAnguVel = 0

        #---chassis
        chassis_b = pymunk.Body(chassisMass, pymunk.moment_for_box(chassisMass, (chWd, chHt)))
        chassis_b.position = chassisXY
        chassis_shape = pymunk.Poly.create_box(chassis_b, (chWd, chHt))
        chassis_shape.color = 200, 200, 200, 100
        print("chassis position");print(chassis_b.position)

        #---first left leg a
        leftLeg_1a_body = pymunk.Body(legMass, pymunk.moment_for_box(legMass, (legWd_a, legHt_a)))
        leftLeg_1a_body.position = chassisXY - ((chWd/2)+(legWd_a/2), 0)
        leftLeg_1a_shape = pymunk.Poly.create_box(leftLeg_1a_body, (legWd_a, legHt_a))        
        leftLeg_1a_shape.color = 255, 0, 0, 100
        
        #---first left leg b
        leftLeg_1b_body = pymunk.Body(legMass, pymunk.moment_for_box(legMass, (legWd_b, legHt_b)))
        leftLeg_1b_body.position = leftLeg_1a_body.position - ((legWd_a/2)+(legWd_b/2), 0)
        leftLeg_1b_shape = pymunk.Poly.create_box(leftLeg_1b_body, (legWd_b, legHt_b))        
        leftLeg_1b_shape.color = 0, 255, 0, 100        
        
        #---first right leg a
        rightLeg_1a_body = pymunk.Body(legMass, pymunk.moment_for_box(legMass, (legWd_a, legHt_a)))
        rightLeg_1a_body.position = chassisXY + ((chWd/2)+(legWd_a/2), 0)
        rightLeg_1a_shape = pymunk.Poly.create_box(rightLeg_1a_body, (legWd_a, legHt_a))        
        rightLeg_1a_shape.color = 255, 0, 0, 100        
        
        #---first right leg b
        rightLeg_1b_body = pymunk.Body(legMass, pymunk.moment_for_box(legMass, (legWd_b, legHt_b)))
        rightLeg_1b_body.position = rightLeg_1a_body.position + ((legWd_a/2)+(legWd_b/2), 0)
        rightLeg_1b_shape = pymunk.Poly.create_box(rightLeg_1b_body, (legWd_b, legHt_b))        
        rightLeg_1b_shape.color = 0, 255, 0, 100     
        
        #---link left leg b with left leg a       
        pj_ba1left = pymunk.PinJoint(leftLeg_1b_body, leftLeg_1a_body, (legWd_b/2,0), (-legWd_a/2,0))#anchor point coordinates are wrt the body; not the space
        motor_ba1Left = pymunk.SimpleMotor(leftLeg_1b_body, leftLeg_1a_body, relativeAnguVel)
        #---link left leg a with chassis
        pj_ac1left = pymunk.PinJoint(leftLeg_1a_body, chassis_b, (legWd_a/2,0), (-chWd/2, 0))
        motor_ac1Left = pymunk.SimpleMotor(leftLeg_1a_body, chassis_b, relativeAnguVel)
        #---link right leg b with right leg a       
        pj_ba1Right = pymunk.PinJoint(rightLeg_1b_body, rightLeg_1a_body, (-legWd_b/2,0), (legWd_a/2,0))#anchor point coordinates are wrt the body; not the space
        motor_ba1Right = pymunk.SimpleMotor(rightLeg_1b_body, rightLeg_1a_body, relativeAnguVel)
        #---link right leg a with chassis
        pj_ac1Right = pymunk.PinJoint(rightLeg_1a_body, chassis_b, (-legWd_a/2,0), (chWd/2, 0))
        motor_ac1Right = pymunk.SimpleMotor(rightLeg_1a_body, chassis_b, relativeAnguVel)              
        
        self.space.add(chassis_b, chassis_shape) 
        self.space.add(leftLeg_1a_body, leftLeg_1a_shape, rightLeg_1a_body, rightLeg_1a_shape) 
        self.space.add(leftLeg_1b_body, leftLeg_1b_shape, rightLeg_1b_body, rightLeg_1b_shape) 
        self.space.add(pj_ba1left, motor_ba1Left, pj_ac1left, motor_ac1Left)  
        self.space.add(pj_ba1Right, motor_ba1Right, pj_ac1Right, motor_ac1Right)      
        
        #---prevent collisions with ShapeFilter
        shape_filter = pymunk.ShapeFilter(group=1)
        chassis_shape.filter = shape_filter
        leftLeg_1a_shape.filter = shape_filter
        rightLeg_1a_shape.filter = shape_filter
        leftLeg_1b_shape.filter = shape_filter
        rightLeg_1b_shape.filter = shape_filter        
                    

        simulate = False
        rotationRate = 2
        while running:
            for event in pygame.event.get():
                if event.type == QUIT or (event.type == KEYDOWN and event.key in (K_q, K_ESCAPE)):
                    #running = False
                    sys.exit(0)
                elif event.type == KEYDOWN and event.key == K_s:
                    # Start/stop simulation.
                    simulate = not simulate
                elif event.type == KEYDOWN and event.key == K_r:
                    # Reset.
                    # simulate = False
                    self.reset_bodies()
                elif event.type == KEYDOWN and event.key == K_UP:
                    motor_ba1Left.rate = rotationRate
                elif event.type == KEYDOWN and event.key == K_DOWN:
                    motor_ba1Left.rate = -rotationRate
                elif event.type == KEYDOWN and event.key == K_LEFT:
                    motor_ac1Left.rate = rotationRate
                elif event.type == KEYDOWN and event.key == K_RIGHT:
                    motor_ac1Left.rate = -rotationRate                    
                elif event.type == KEYUP:
                    motor_ba1Left.rate = 0
                    motor_ac1Left.rate = 0

            self.draw()

            ### Update physics
            fps = 50
            iterations = 25
            dt = 1.0/float(fps)/float(iterations)
            if simulate:
                for x in range(iterations): # 10 iterations to get a more stable simulation
                    self.space.step(dt)

            pygame.display.flip()
            clock.tick(fps)

if __name__ == '__main__':
    sim = Simulator()
    sim.main()

It can be controlled with the up, left, right and down arrow keys after first pressing the s key to start the simulation. I've also made sure the variables are created properly linked with each other and named well.

The part about making the joints move to a desired angle is yet to be implemented, but perhaps that could be calculated by taking the x,y positions of the ends of the joints and using a formula to calculate the angle and then move the motor until it reaches a desired angle.

If there's a better way, do let me know by posting an answer or editing this one.