thais_urdf

ROS 2 Humble package with the InMoov-derived robot description used by Lucy: URDF/xacro, DAE meshes, ros2_control blocks, Gazebo (gz-sim) physics, an RViz layout, and launch files for ros2_control + RViz / Gazebo.

The web control panel (rosbridge + /config/* services) is not started from here — use lucy_bringup (lucy.launch.py) or web_ros_api.launch.py from lucy_ros_packages.

Historical name: package.xml is thais_urdf but the content is the InMoov-style description used by Lucy.

Repository layout

thais_urdf/
├── package.xml              # ROS package: thais_urdf
├── CMakeLists.txt           # Installs launch/, config/, description/, docs/, worlds/
├── docs/                    # Developer + hardware docs (see Documentation map)
├── launch/
│   ├── control.launch.py        # ros2_control + spawners (real robot)
│   ├── gazebo.launch.py         # gz-sim + ros2_control + optional RViz
│   ├── joint_preview.launch.py  # robot_state_publisher + joint_state_publisher_gui + RViz
│   ├── rviz.launch.py           # RViz2 only (used by lucy_bringup)
│   └── rviz_standalone.launch.py # RViz2 only (manual second-terminal use)
├── config/
│   ├── controllers.yaml         # controller_manager + named controllers
│   ├── control.launch.yaml      # defaults for control.launch.py
│   ├── inmoov_rviz.rviz         # RViz layout (visual + collision overlay)
│   └── hardware/
│       ├── active.yaml          # single source of truth for the live mapping
│       ├── active_meta.yaml     # which preset is active + flash metadata
│       └── configs/             # named presets (default / sim / dated snapshots)
├── description/
│   ├── urdf/inmoov.urdf.xacro                    # top-level entry
│   ├── robot_description/
│   │   ├── urdf/properties.xacro                 # model_scale
│   │   ├── urdf/robot_description.urdf.xacro     # links, joints, visuals, collisions, materials
│   │   └── meshes/dae/*.dae                      # 290 Collada meshes (visual + collision)
│   ├── ros2_control/
│   │   ├── inmoov_ros2_control.xacro             # hardware interfaces (real / sim / mock)
│   │   └── inmoov_gz_ros2_control.xacro          # gz_ros2_control plugin (sim only)
│   └── gazebo/
│       └── inmoov_gazebo_physics.xacro           # static / friction / self_collide (sim only)
├── worlds/default.sdf       # minimal world used by gazebo.launch.py
├── scripts/                 # inject_collisions.py, autocalibrate_joint_limits.py, scale_xacro_origins.py
├── test/                    # pytest suite (xacro smoke, YAML, collisions, joint limits)
└── archive/                 # Original InMoov-i1 STL meshes + URDF + PDF (lineage, not runtime)

Install: launch/, config/, description/, docs/, worlds/ install to share/thais_urdf/. The combo launches resolve defaults from get_package_share_directory("thais_urdf"); override only for custom trees.

Relationship to lucy_ros_packages

Repo	Role
thais_urdf (this)	Canonical robot description + sim/visualization entry launches (no rosbridge).
lucy_ros_packages	LUCY bringup (lucy_bringup), LucySystemHardware plugin, cameras, web_ros_api (rosbridge + lucy_config_pipeline).

lucy_ros2_control consumes this URDF when both packages share lucy_ws/src/. No package.xml dependency on lucy_ros2_control (would create a colcon cycle) — keep both packages in the workspace.

Requirements

ROS 2 Humble plus: robot_state_publisher, controller_manager, rviz2, ros_gz_sim, ros_gz_bridge, gz_ros2_control, launch_ros, lucy_ros2_control. The auto-cal script also needs PyBullet (already in the lucy_ros2:humble image, pip otherwise).

rosdep install --from-paths src --ignore-src -r -y

For the control panel, also build lucy_bringup + lucy_config_pipeline (pulled in via lucy_bringup's package.xml).

Build

source /opt/ros/humble/setup.bash
cd lucy_ws
colcon build --symlink-install --packages-select thais_urdf lucy_ros2_control
source install/setup.bash

--symlink-install lets edits to description/, launch/, config/, and scripts/ be picked up on the next ros2 launch without rebuilding. Re-run colcon build only after touching CMakeLists.txt, package.xml, or test/.

Quick launches

# URDF preview with sliders + RViz (no hardware, no controllers)
ros2 launch thais_urdf joint_preview.launch.py

# Real robot: ros2_control + controllers (RViz in another terminal)
ros2 launch thais_urdf control.launch.py
ros2 launch thais_urdf rviz_standalone.launch.py

# gz-sim + ros2_control + optional RViz
ros2 launch thais_urdf gazebo.launch.py                  # GUI
ros2 launch thais_urdf gazebo.launch.py headless:=true   # server-only, EGL render
ros2 launch thais_urdf gazebo.launch.py start_rviz:=true # spawn RViz too

# Full stack (rosbridge + web panel) — from lucy_bringup
ros2 launch lucy_bringup lucy.launch.py real:=false rviz:=true
ros2 launch lucy_bringup lucy.launch.py gazebo:=true real:=false

Common arguments:

Launch	Arg	Default	Notes
control.launch.py	urdf_path, base_path, controllers_yaml, use_mock_hardware	from config/control.launch.yaml	use_mock_hardware:=true keeps LucySystemHardware but sets publish_actuators:=false so URDF clamping is enforced without micro-ROS publishing.
gazebo.launch.py	urdf_path, base_path, controllers_yaml, headless, start_rviz	package share	headless:=true runs gz sim -s -r --headless-rendering.
rviz_standalone.launch.py	rviz_config, use_sim_time	config/inmoov_rviz.rviz, false	Use when /robot_description + /joint_states already exist.
joint_preview.launch.py	jsp_gui	true	false hides sliders so an external publisher can drive /joint_states.

Standalone xacro → URDF

Tools that cannot consume xacro (Isaac Sim, offline MoveIt pipelines, the LCP exporter, …):

ros2 run xacro xacro description/urdf/inmoov.urdf.xacro \
    base_path:=$(pwd)/description \
    use_gazebo_sim:=false \
  | sed 's|file://[^ "]*meshes/dae/\([^"]*\)|meshes/dae/\1|g' \
  > /tmp/robot_description.urdf

Argument	Default	Purpose
base_path	.	Parent of robot_description/; the xacro appends /robot_description/meshes/dae.
use_gazebo_sim	false	true enables gz_ros2_control plugin + Gazebo physics overrides.
use_mock_hardware	false	true keeps LucySystemHardware but disables the micro-ROS actuator publisher (URDF clamping still runs).

model_scale is not a launch arg — it is a single xacro property in description/robot_description/urdf/properties.xacro (current value 0.1196, targets a measured crown height of 1.80 m). The flat URDF is not committed; regenerate on demand when needed.

Tests and CI

colcon build --symlink-install --packages-select thais_urdf lucy_ros2_control \
  --cmake-args -DBUILD_TESTING=ON
colcon test --packages-select thais_urdf --event-handlers console_direct+
colcon test-result --verbose

Local coverage (needs python3-pytest-cov):

mkdir -p build/coverage_reports build/coverage_html
python3 -m pytest src/thais_urdf/test/ \
  --cov=src/thais_urdf/launch --cov=src/thais_urdf/test \
  --cov-report=term-missing \
  --cov-report=xml:build/coverage_reports/thais_urdf.xml \
  --cov-report=html:build/coverage_html/thais_urdf

CI: .github/workflows/ci.yml builds thais_urdf + lucy_ros2_control, runs colcon test, then pytest-cov. Cobertura XML + HTML are uploaded to Codecov (flag thais_urdf) when CODECOV_TOKEN is set.

Documentation map

Doc	Content
This file	Package scope, build, launches, integration points
docs/DEVELOPER.md	Editing the URDF, calibration workflow (collisions + joint limits), xacro architecture, scripts, extension checklist
docs/hardware_mapping.md	Schema for config/hardware/active.yaml (boards, actuators, calibration fields)
docs/inmoov_i2.md	i1 (current) vs i2 head/expression actuators — YAML appendix
lucy_ros_packages README	Lucy system bringup, hardware plugin, cameras, web panel
lucy_ws/docs/simulation_and_visualization.md	Control panel ↔ ROS pipeline and sim-time notes

License and assets

• InMoov-derived meshes and lineage: see LICENSE and attribution (CC BY-NC 4.0, Gael Langevin / InMoov). The original STL set + InMoov.urdf + PDF live under archive/ for reference.
• Package code (launch, xacro, CMake, scripts): GPL-3.0 per package.xml.

Maintainer

Sentience Robotics Team — contact@sentience-robotics.fr.