Python: Dynamically calling Method in separate script

Question

I'm currently working on a project to control a 6 legged robot. I've got my scripts set up for the individual joint control and it's working fine. I have individual scripts for the joint controllers for each leg, leg_1_joint_control, leg_2_joint_control etc ..., all of these scripts have 3 PID controllers for the motors on each leg called PID1, PID2 & PID3. What I want to do is dynamically call my PID1,2&3 methods in my leg_'leg_no'_joint_control.py script (where 'leg_no' is the leg number [1 - 6]) without having to write a separate case for each leg.

Here's an ideal snippet of my leg control code to try and explain:

import leg_1_joint_control
import leg_2_joint_control
import leg_3_joint_control
...

def leg(args, leg_no):
    ...
    e1[t] = leg_'leg_no'_joint_control.PID1(args)
    ...

and my leg_'leg_no'_joint_control script

...
def PID1(args):
    ...
    return ek

So what I want to do is when I change the leg_no variable, I want to call PID1 in the scripts for the relevant leg. is this possible? I've tried methods such as getattr() but have had no success.

Are the legs so different that you need three different scripts to control them? A single control class with one instance per leg seems simpler. — chepner
– chepner, Commented Aug 5, 2015 at 16:13

Serge Ballesta · Accepted Answer · 2015-08-05 16:03:50Z

3

Do not try to use dynamic names for variables it will cause headaches to develop and nightmares to maintain. Just use an array :

import leg_1_joint_control
import leg_2_joint_control
import leg_3_joint_control
...

legs_joint_control = [ leg_1_joint_control, leg_2_joint_control, ... ]

def leg(args, leg_no):
    ...
    e1[t] = legs_joint_control[leg_no].PID1(args)
    ...

answered Aug 5, 2015 at 16:03

Serge Ballesta

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1 Comment

Liam Brown Over a year ago

Cheers! this has solved it. can this also be done for the PID1, 2 & 3? eg. pid = [PID1, PID2, PID3] for i in (0, 3): ... = legs_joint_control[leg_no].pid[i](args)

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