URDF Studio

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#Supported files and browsers

#Robot descriptions

File Notes
.urdf Plain URDF
.urdf.xacro, .xacro Expanded by URDF Studio — no ROS installation needed
.srdf Planning groups, named states, disable_collisions
initial_positions.yaml Read as a named state
.xml with a <mujoco> root, .mjcf MuJoCo MJCF, read-only — see View MuJoCo models

#Xacro support

  • xacro:include, xacro:macro (including block and * parameters), xacro:property, xacro:arg, xacro:if / xacro:unless
  • $(find pkg), $(arg name)
  • ${…} expressions, including Python-style conditionals (a if c else b), ** and slicing
  • load_yaml — the YAML files must be inside the opened folder

If an expression can't be evaluated, it is skipped with a warning and the rest of the file still loads.

#Meshes

STL, COLLADA (.dae), OBJ, glTF (.gltf) and GLB. Textures and other files referenced by .dae and .gltf meshes are loaded from the same folder.

Primitive shapes — <box>, <cylinder>, <sphere> — are drawn directly.

#Capsules

URDF Studio also draws MuJoCo-style capsules in <visual> and <collision> geometry. This is an extension: standard ROS tools don't read it.

<geometry>
  <capsule radius="0.05" length="0.2"/>
</geometry>
  • length is the straight middle section; the capsule is length + 2 × radius long end to end.
  • The capsule runs along the geometry's local Z axis, then the usual <origin> applies.
  • length="0" gives a sphere. radius must be positive and length zero or more.
  • Materials and opacity work as for other shapes.

The repository's capsule example shows a visual capsule, a rotated collision capsule and an ordinary cylinder side by side.

#Paths

Path in the URDF Resolved against
package://name/… The folder containing name's package.xml. If none is found, parent folders of the robot file are searched
file:///… or an absolute path Used as given (VS Code only — the browser can only see the opened folder)
Relative path The robot file's folder
http://…, https://… Not supported; download the mesh into the package

#Browser support

The browser version needs WebGL 2.

Browser Open folder & drag-drop Pick files Reopen last folder
Chrome, Edge, Brave, Arc, Opera (114+) Yes Yes Yes
Firefox (115+) — Yes —
Safari (17+) — Yes —

Folder access only works on a secure (https://) page, which urdf.deyuf.org is.

#VS Code

VS Code 1.86 or later, on Windows, macOS or Linux.