[Robotics] OpenGRASP, COLLADA and Blender

[Herman Bruyninckx]

On Wed, 20 Apr 2011, Antonio Morales wrote:

> Dear All,
>
> Following recent messages, let me talk about the work regarding COLLADA for robotics which we have been doing within the European funded project GRASP  which we think could be of interest for you. One of the main tasks of the project has been the development of a simulation tool focused on robot grasping. We chose OpenRAVE (http://openrave.programmingvision.com/en/main/index.html) as the core of toolkit which also includes additional tools, plug-ins and robot models. We call it OpenGRASP (http://opengrasp.sourceforge.net/)
>
> In OpenGRASP we  use COLLADA 1.5 as the file format to store robot models and scenarios. We have addressed several COLLADA related aspects.
>
> * Specification of robotic specific tags for COLLADA 1.5 -> importer/exporter on OpenRAVE
>
> One feature of the OpenGRASP project is the extension of the COLLADA v1.5
> format using the available mechanism to add user-defined content to the
> files.

I do not think this is a good way to go, since it makes different
extensions mutually incompatible. If you add new content (and we have to in
robotics) you should do it in _another_ standard, and _aggregate_ the
combination.

> In cooperation with the developers of OpenRAVE, this idea evolved
> to provide definitions for sensors, more complex definitions of
> manipulators and grippers, and actuator models in the future. Some of
> these extensions can be found on the OpenRAVE homepage, and a more
> detailed description as well as the opportunity to discuss the extensions
> will be installed on our OpenGRASP project page.
>
> To know more about this you can contact: puche AT icc.uji.es

Please, provide a _mailing list_ instead of individual contacts.

> * Blender COLLADA 1.5 importer/exporter
>
> A blender (2.4) script for importing/exporting COLLADA 1.5 has been
> developed. The export of valid models has been completed a while ago and,
> currently, we finished the work on an initial import of the models we
> have created. Therefore, the existing code of the version 1.4 plug-in
> (from Illusoft) has been further extended. We have also investigated the
> possibility of replacing large parts this code basis by a parser that has
> been created automatically from COLLADA's scheme definition. That way,
> the code can be cleaned up and enable a stand alone application. COLLADA
> support is still closely connected to the editing (i.e., requires the
> Robot Editor) as it is using additional information stored in the
> property fields of the armature objects, rather than the pure geometry.
> However, it could be separated from the robot editing interface for the
> use in different projects with little effort.
>
> So, we would like to encourage the integration of this work in other
> projects (OpenCOLLADA, ..) and any help on modularization,
> debugging/testing, etc. is highly welcome.
>
> Contact: stefan.ulbrich AT kit.edu

Please, provide a _mailing list_ instead of individual contacts.

> * Blender Robot Editor plug-in
>
> This feature aims to facilitate the creation of robot models for
> scientific applications. Blender is difficult to master, and the
> available mechanisms for the definition of kinematics lack a robotics
> focus. This plug-in lets one build up a kinematic tree and connect it to
> the geometries in a way that is more familiar to robotic scientists.
> Together with the powerful modeling capabilities and the various option
> for importing geometries that blender offers, this plug-in helps to
> easily create robot models usable in Simulation.
> the import and export of COLLADA v1.5 is currently tightly coupled with this plug-in. Currently, it runs only on blender 2.48/2.49.
>
> For questions please contact: stefan.ulbrich AT kit.edu

Please, provide a _mailing list_ instead of individual contacts.
>
> It's important that you are aware that this a work still on development
> and in a beta state. You are more than welcome to download, test , use
> it, and contribute to its development. We will still be pushing on its
> development and the feedback from users and collaborators can be of
> interest for all of us.
>
> Of course, we are open to establish future collaborations.

Collaborations can only be _sustainable_ if they are done in _critical
mass_ projects. For example, Blender itself, or OpenCOLLADA. _Maybe_ MORSE
has already achieved this status, but I am not sure.

So, the robotics community has to come up with a _choice_ of which of these
third-party critical mass projects we want to support...

Herman