How do I import XACRO files as Rigid Body Trees in Robotics System Toolbox?

I am trying to import a robot description model from a XACRO file as a Rigid Body Tree from Robotics System Toolbox.

robot = importrobot('myfile.xacro');

However, the XACRO format is not supported. Instead, I need to use a plain URDF file. How can I get around this?

Answer 1

[Sebastian Castro]

You can use the ROS xacro utility to convert your XACRO files to URDF before importing into MATLAB.

In a ROS enabled terminal, you can enter the following command, replacing the paths and names for your input and output files:

rosrun xacro xacro --inorder -o ~/myfile.urdf ~/myfile.xacro

You can then check the generated file to see if it's valid

check_urdf ~/myfile.urdf

If this step is successful, you can copy the URDF file and its dependent meshes somewhere accessible by MATLAB. Then, you can try import your robot as follows

>> robot = importrobot('myfile.urdf');

- Sebastian