Assisting robotic arm setup in a surgical robotic system using augmented reality can include capturing a live video of a user setting up a robotic arm in a surgical robotic system. A visual guide representing a target pose of the robotic arm can be rendered onto the live video, resulting in an augmented live video for guiding the arm setup. The augmented live video can be displayed to the user while the user is following the visual guide to set up the robotic arm. The captured live video can be continuously processed to determine whether the robotic arm has reached the target pose.
