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icub-models

Repository containing URDF and SDF models of iCub humanoid robots.

The model contained in this repo are licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License (CC BY-SA 4.0) .

Installation

conda (recommended)

You can easily install the icub-models and the C++ and Python helper libraries via conda-forge using the following command

conda install -c conda-forge icub-models

If you are not familiar with conda or conda-forge, you can read an introduction document in conda-forge overview.

robotology-superbuild (advanced)

If you use apt to install your dependencies or if you are install icub-models for use as part of iCub humanoid robot software installation, you may want to install icub-models through the robotology-superbuild, an easy way to download, compile and install the robotology software on multiple operating systems, using the CMake build system and its extension YCM. icub-models is always installed by robotology-superbuild.

Build from source (advanced)

If you want to build icub-models directly from source of from the repo, you can check the documentation in build-from-source.md.

Model Details

The models contained in icub-models are listed in the following table. Most models are identified by a name like iCub<Something><Number>, that we refer as YARP_ROBOT_NAME. Historically, on iCub robot setups, the YARP_ROBOT_NAME env variable identified the specific robot to use.

Usage

Use the models with ROS

Models contained in icub-models can be used using the package:/-URI listed in previous table. This URI always follow the structure package://iCub/robots/<name>/model.urdf, where <name> is iCubErzelli02, iCubGazeboV2_5 or a similar identifier.

Use the models with Classic Gazebo

Note that only the models that are known to work fine with the default physics engine settings of Classic Gazebo (the one that start with iCubGazebo) are installed. If you want to make available in Gazebo all the models, enable the ICUB_MODELS_INSTALL_ALL_GAZEBO_MODELS CMake option.

To include the model in a Classic Gazebo world, use the following SDF:

<include>
    <pose>0 0 0.5 0 -0.1 3.14</pose>
    <uri>model://iCubGazeboV2_5</uri>
</include>

The model:/ string is used to include the model, following the structure model://<name>, where <name> is iCubGazeboV2_5, iCubGazeboV2_7 or a similar identifier. Note that you can also use the structure model://iCub/robots/<name>.

Use the models from C++ helper library

In order to use these models in c++ application you can exploit the icub-models library. icub-models provides native CMake support which allows the library to be easily used in CMake projects. icub-models exports a CMake target called icub-models::icub-models which can be imported using the find_package CMake command and used by calling target_link_libraries as in the following example:

cmake_minimum_required(VERSION 3.5)
project(myproject)
find_package(icub-models REQUIRED)
add_executable(example example.cpp)
target_link_libraries(example icub-models::icub-models)

The example.cpp will contains

#include <iCubModels/iCubModels.h>
#include <iostream>

int main()
{
    std::cout << "Models have been installed in: " << iCubModels::getModelsPath() << std::endl;

    std::cout << "Available robots: " << std::endl;
    for (const auto& robot : iCubModels::getRobotNames())
    {
        std::cout << " - " << robot << ": " <<  iCubModels::getModelFile(robot) << std::endl;
    }

    return EXIT_SUCCESS;
}

Note: The ABI and the API of the C++ helper library has breaking changes only at major releases of the icub-models package.

Use the models from C++ using YARP

To find the model in C++ using YARP, you just need to make sure that YARP_ROBOT_NAME environment variable is set, and search for the model.urdf file:

std::string modelAbsolutePath =yarp::os::ResourceFinder::getResourceFinderSingleton().findFileByName("model.urdf");

Use the models from Python icub-models library

The following script can be used to locate the models

import icub_models

print(f"Models have been installed in: {icub_models.get_models_path()}")

print(f"Available robots: {icub_models.get_robot_names()}")

for robot_name in icub_models.get_robot_names():
    print(f"{robot_name}: {icub_models.get_model_file(robot_name)}")

Use the models from Python using resolve-robotics-uri-py

First of all, make sure that you installed resolve-robotics-uri-py python library. Then, you can find the icub-models models using package:/ or model:/ URIs, as you would use with Gazebo or ROS:

absolute_path = resolve_robotics_uri_py.resolve_robotics_uri("package://iCub/robots/iCubGazeboV2_7/model.urdf")

or

absolute_path = resolve_robotics_uri_py.resolve_robotics_uri("model://iCub/robots/iCubGazeboV2_7/model.urdf")

FAQs

Change the orientation of the root frame

The iCub robot root frame is defined as x-backward, meaning that the x-axis points behind the robot. Nevertheless, in the robotics community, sometimes the root frame of a robot is defined as x-forward. As a consequence, to use the iCub models with software developed for the x-forward configuration (e.g. IHMC-ORS), might be necessary to quickly update the root frame orientation.
For this purpose, locate the joint <joint name="base_fixed_joint" type="fixed"> in the URDF model and perform the following substitution in the origin section:

-  <origin xyz="0 0 0" rpy="0 -0 0"/>
+  <origin xyz="0 0 0" rpy="0 -0 3.14159265358979323846"/>