# I want to connect the slicer to the robotic arm via NDI Polaris Vicra

**URL:** <https://discourse.slicer.org/t/i-want-to-connect-the-slicer-to-the-robotic-arm-via-ndi-polaris-vicra/8523>\
**Category:** Development\
**Created:** [September 22, 2019, 2:53am UTC](https://discourse.slicer.org/t/i-want-to-connect-the-slicer-to-the-robotic-arm-via-ndi-polaris-vicra/8523 "2019-09-22T02:53:52Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Zhao\_Su](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/discourse.slicer.org/zhao_su/32/3678_2.png) [@Zhao\_Su](https://discourse.slicer.org/u/Zhao_Su)\
**Post date:** [September 22, 2019, 2:53am UTC](https://discourse.slicer.org/t/i-want-to-connect-the-slicer-to-the-robotic-arm-via-ndi-polaris-vicra/8523/1 "2019-09-22T02:53:52Z")

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But the robotic arm only supports the TCP communication protocol. Ndi’s communication interface is API. Is there any good solution？ Thanks a lot！

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**Author:** ![ungi](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/discourse.slicer.org/ungi/32/78573_2.png) [@ungi](https://discourse.slicer.org/u/ungi)\
**Post date:** [September 22, 2019, 6:40pm UTC](https://discourse.slicer.org/t/i-want-to-connect-the-slicer-to-the-robotic-arm-via-ndi-polaris-vicra/8523/2 "2019-09-22T18:40:09Z")

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Hi, check out the PLUS Toolkit. PLUS is a software that reads tracking information from NDI Polaris (and lots of other devices), and sends that information to 3D Slicer through OpenIGTLink. You may find these tutorials useful: [http://www.slicerigt.org/wp/user-tutorial/](http://www.slicerigt.org/wp/user-tutorial/)  
We also had a tutorial recently, specifically with a robot arm: [https://github.com/rosmed/rosmed.github.io](https://github.com/rosmed/rosmed.github.io)  
You will need to learn how to use multiple software tools together, but what you want to do is possible.

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**Author:** ![Zhao\_Su](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/discourse.slicer.org/zhao_su/32/3678_2.png) [@Zhao\_Su](https://discourse.slicer.org/u/Zhao_Su)\
**Post date:** [September 26, 2019, 2:37pm UTC](https://discourse.slicer.org/t/i-want-to-connect-the-slicer-to-the-robotic-arm-via-ndi-polaris-vicra/8523/3 "2019-09-26T14:37:33Z")

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Hi! I had already finish all of the slides, but I didn’t know how to control a real robot. If I want control it, what should I do during the tutorial? Thanks a lot !