URDF, which stands for Unified Robot Description Format, is an XML-based format used in ROS to describe a robot's physical and kinematic properties.
Key Features of URDF
- Physical Properties:
- Specifies the robot's geometry, such as shapes (cylinder, sphere, box) or meshes.
- Defines dimensions, positions, orientations, and materials.
- Kinematics:
- Describes how the robot's joints connect its links (rigid parts).
- Includes joint types (e.g., fixed, revolute, prismatic, etc.) and their movement constraints.
- Dynamics:
- Includes inertial properties like mass, center of mass, and moments of inertia for simulation purposes.
- Allows the specification of friction and damping coefficients for joints.
- Sensors and Actuators:
- URDF can integrate plugins for adding sensors (e.g., cameras, LIDAR) or actuators.