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sw2urdf - modeling parallelogram?

asked 2022-04-09 20:20:42 -0500

JLee gravatar image

Hi all,

I am a kind of a newbie in converting Solidworks CAD to URDF. It is obvious for serial joint configuration, but I have a trouble modeling parallelograms. Fundamentally, I am not sure whether the sw2urdf add-in can make a parallelogram mechanism as a URDF since it only allows a tree structure of the joint and there is no way to add an additional constraint. Would it be possible to make a parallelogram mechanism URDF by Solidworks add-in?

I'd appreciate it if anyone gives me a tip.

Best Jay

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answered 2022-04-11 13:48:54 -0500

brawner gravatar image

Unfortunately, the URDF specification itself does not allow for kinematic structures with cycles, like a parallelagram. It does support the integration of a "mimic" joint, where one joint can mimic another and I have used that successfully for a Luxo lamp style paralellagram mechanism. (https://www.luxo-lighting.com/).

To add a mimic joint, add the two non-driven joints as children of the base link of your parallelagram, and then after clicking the configure and export, select those joints from the joint configuration and page and setup their mimic properties. You can add an offset and a scale if they don't move exactly 1-to-1 with the joint they are mimicking.

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Asked: 2022-04-08 16:42:21 -0500

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Last updated: Apr 11 '22