Installing or_urdf plugin for OpenRAVE 0.9

openrave_or_urdf.md

Installation

• First, run the following to install libtinyxml2-dev on your system.

sudo apt-get install libtinyxml2-dev

• I assume you have already configured your catkin_ws workspace, if not Google how to configure your catkin workspace.
• Go to catkin_ws/src and clone the or_urdf repository from here. Note that this is a forked version because I changed something to the build destination of the plugin. I have created a pull request but as of now has not yet been approved. Have a look here and if the pull request is merged and closed, then go ahead and clone the or_urdf from the original repository.
• Clone also the openrave_catkin from here in your catkin_ws/src.
• Once you clone the or_urdf and openrave_catkin in your catkin_ws/src then go to catkin_ws and run catkin_make.
• You should see a successful message at the end of the build process.
• In your ~/.bashrc file add the following line:

export OPENRAVE_PLUGINS=$OPENRAVE_PLUGINS:~/catkin_ws/devel/share/openrave-0.9/plugins

• Verify the successful installation of the plugin using the following:
  • Run source ~/.bashrc
  • openrave -listplugins
  • You should see URDF under module category. If you see URDF in there then you are good to go!

Testing

I have the urdf and srdf files for UR5 robot stored in the repository here if you want to try.

from openravepy import *

env = Environment()
env.SetViewer('qtcoin')
urdf_module = RaveCreateModule(env, 'urdf')

urdf_path = "package://ur5controller/ur5_description/urdf/clearpath_ridgeback__ur5__robotiq_two_finger_gripper.urdf"
srdf_path = "package://ur5controller/ur5_description/srdf/clearpath_ridgeback__ur5__robotiq_two_finger_gripper.srdf"

with env:
    ur5_name = urdf_module.SendCommand('LoadURI {} {}'.format(urdf_path,
                                                              srdf_path))
    robot = self.env.GetRobot(ur5_name)