How to import Collada (.dae) files into Gazebo (ROS/Fuerte)?

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You can use COLLADA models directly in Gazebo world files by adding them using the < model > tag like so:

<model name="small_wall_1" static="true">
    <link name="small_wall_1_link">
        <origin pose="0 0 0 0 0 0"/>
        <collision name="small_wall_1_collision">
            <geometry>
                <mesh filename="small_wall.dae" scale="1 1 1"/>
            </geometry>
        </collision>
        <visual name="small_wall_1_visual" cast_shadows="false">
            <geometry>
                <mesh filename="small_wall.dae" scale="1 1 1"/>
            </geometry>
        </visual>
    </link>
</model>

This also has the advantage that you can specify them as "static" (as done above), which means no costly dynamics simulation will be performed on the models themselves. At least in earlier version of the URDF COB environments this was not the case.

The example was taken from the go2011_arena.world world file in the hector_nist_arena_worlds package which contains a model of the RoboCup German Open 2011 Rescue Arena made up of many small COLLADA models.