Can you add spring dynamics to a joint (urdf)?

asked 2022-04-18 05:48:51 -0500

botboy
1 ●1 ●2 ●1

I'm trying to simulate a spring within the joints of a robot leg. I've managed to use

    <gazebo reference="Joint">
        <implicitSpringDamper>true</implicitSpringDamper>
        <springStiffness>50</springStiffness>
        <springReference>0.8</springReference>
    </gazebo>

in the urdf to simulate a spring in that joint, but it only works when running the robot in gazebo. Is there a proper way to set up spring dynamics inside the joint in the urdf so that it works in rviz as well? I'm using melodic ros if that matters. Thanks!

edit retag flag offensive close merge delete

add a comment

3

answered 2022-04-19 13:52:23 -0500

shonigmann

1567 ●15 ●115 ●49

@gvdhoorn is absolutely correct that RViz is not a simulator and has nothing to do with the spring dynamics on your simulated robot. That being said, if all you want to do is visualize the joint in Rviz as the joints compress and extend in Gazebo, then you will need to make sure the joint states for all your non-fixed joints are being published.

The gazebo_ros_pkgs joint_state_publisher plugin is one way to do this.