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Foxglove now provides improved assist for visualizing robotic fashions described by the Unified Robotic Description Format (URDF) within the 3D panel.
Robotically fetch URDF meshes over a Foxglove WebSocket connection
When utilizing the Foxglove bridge (v0.7+) to connect with a reside knowledge supply, Foxglove now routinely fetches any URDF meshes referenced by package deal:// URLs over the Foxglove WebSocket connection.
This implies you not should retailer mesh information in your native file system and cargo them with the Foxglove desktop app. Now you can merely open a WebSocket connection from the Foxglove net app to fetch mesh information from a distant PC or an remoted setting like a Docker container.
Since mesh information can now be fetched from a distant supply like a PC or Docker container, you not want to make use of the desktop app to set the ROS_PACKAGE_PATH and retrieve mesh information saved in your native file system.
Add URDFs by way of a URL, matter, or parameter
Beforehand, Foxglove solely supported including URDFs as customized layers to the 3D panel utilizing URLs. Visualizing URDFs that have been out there by way of a subject or parameter apart from /robot_description was not doable.
Now, now you can specify a customized “Matter” or “Parameter” because the URDF’s “Supply”. You possibly can even visualize a number of robots with the identical URDF, however with transforms printed on totally different body prefixes, utilizing the “Body prefix” (i.e. tf_prefix) setting:
Visualize URDF collision geometries
The 3D panel’s “Show mode” setting permits you to swap between rendering a robotic’s “Visible” or “Collision” geometries. Choosing “Auto” will present visible geometries by default, however will fall again to collision geometries if no visible geometries can be found.
You possibly can even configure the colour of the collision geometries if it isn’t specified instantly within the URDF with the brand new “Coloration” setting.
Keep tuned
With this expanded URDF assist, visualizing your robotic fashions within the context of a sensible 3D scene might be so simple as configuring a number of settings. Whether or not you’re utilizing Foxglove to watch a reside robotic or triage an incident, the corporate hopes these enhancements provide help to higher perceive how your robots sense, assume, and act.