[Robotics] OpenGRASP, COLLADA and Blender

[Alexey Zakharov]

2011/4/20 Herman Bruyninckx <Herman.Bruyninckx at mech.kuleuven.be>

> 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
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>
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