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Research-Stack/5-Applications/text-to-cad/skills/urdf/references/urdf-workflow.md

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URDF Workflow

Use this reference when editing robot description structure, mesh references, or generated URDF output.

Edit Loop

  1. Find the Python source that defines gen_urdf().
  2. Treat that Python source as source of truth and the .urdf file as generated.
  3. Edit links, joints, limits, axes, origins, inertials, materials, and mesh filenames deliberately.
  4. Keep visual mesh references tied to the source assembly or instance payload when the project uses generated assembly meshes.
  5. Regenerate only the explicit URDF target with 5-Applications/scripts/gen_urdf <source-file>.
  6. Use --summary for a compact robot/link/joint check.
  7. If mesh outputs changed, use the CAD skill to regenerate affected STEP/STL/render assets separately.

Viewer Pose Metadata

When the workbench UI needs named robot poses, encode them as generator-owned texttocad: namespaced metadata inside the generated URDF rather than as hand-edited XML.

  • Use the texttocad prefix and declare xmlns:texttocad="https://tom-cad.dev/ns/texttocad-urdf/1" on <robot>.
  • Store presets under <texttocad:poses>.
  • Each preset should use <texttocad:pose name="..."> with one or more <texttocad:joint name="..." value="..."/> children.
  • value uses the same units the viewer uses for that joint: degrees for revolute/continuous joints and raw linear values for prismatic joints.
  • Keep the source-of-truth in the Python file that defines gen_urdf(), then regenerate the explicit .urdf target.

Example:

<robot name="sample_robot" xmlns:texttocad="https://tom-cad.dev/ns/texttocad-urdf/1">
  <texttocad:poses>
    <texttocad:pose name="home">
      <texttocad:joint name="shoulder" value="0" />
      <texttocad:joint name="elbow" value="45" />
    </texttocad:pose>
  </texttocad:poses>
</robot>

Mesh References

URDF mesh filenames should be stable from the generated URDF file's perspective or use a package URI convention understood by the consumer.

When using package URIs, confirm the consuming environment resolves the package root the same way as the generated URDF expects.

Do not use URDF XML as the source of truth for CAD placement. Prefer deriving visual mesh references from the same assembly/source data that owns the CAD instance payload.