Creating the COLLADA file of a robot to work with OpenRave
In this section, we can discuss how to convert the robot URDF model to the collada file (.dae) format to work with OpenRave. There is a ROS package called collada_urdf, which contains nodes to convert URDF into collada files. The URDF file of ABB-IRB 6640 model is on abb_irb6600_support/urdf folder named irb6640.urdf. Copy this file into your working folder and run the following command for the conversion:
Start roscore $ roscore
Run the conversion command. We need to mention the URDF file and the output DAE file:
$ rosrun collada_urdf urdf_to_collada irb6640.urdf irb6640.dae
Tip
In most of the cases, this command fails because most of the URDF file contains STL meshes and it may not convert into DAE as we expected. If the robot meshes in, in DAE format, it will work fine. If it happens, follow this procedure:
Install Meshlab tool for viewing and editing meshes using the following command:
Open meshes present at
abb_irb6600_support...
