Merge with the jvrc_description in robot-descriptions?

[stephane-caron]

Hey guys, here is a proposal to get together :raised_hands:

Two years ago robot-descriptions / jvrc_description was spun from mc_rtc_data to serve what I believe will be a similar need to this project. The goal of the Robot Descriptions org is to facilitate access to a collection of open source robot descriptions as large and diverse as possible. The org is open to all roboticists and not geared toward any particular software. For instance there is a Python project to import robot descriptions to several frameworks like this:

from robot_descriptions.loaders.{framework_name} import load_robot_description

robot = load_robot_description("jvrc_description")  # object of framework type

(There could be something similar for mc_rtc!)

I think our needs are aligned. Would you like to merge the two projects?

@gergondet the merge should be straightforward but I can also help with time/work if there is any blocker.

[gergondet]

Hi @stephane-caron

I don't see why not but I'm not sure what there is to merge.

If I'm not mistaken the repository under the robot-descriptions organization has two major difference with this one:

• dist/python which is obsolete
• https://github.com/robot-descriptions/jvrc_description/commit/76d623441f17a47159a55c847a3523f77cec8137 which I guess stems from (past ?) limitation of a viewer because if I'm not mistaken these colors are already embedded in the collada files. Is this patch still necessary?

The README is quite a bit nicer than ours though :)

On the other hand, this repository has quite a few extra files compared to the one hosted in the robot-descriptions organization (convex and calib folders which are specific to mc_rtc)

I suggest the following let me if that works for you:

• incorporate the urdf patch is it's still required on your side
• use your README and link back to the robot-descriptions org (I also suggest adding the following demo which should ring a bell for you ^^)
• change the repo at https://github.com/robot-descriptions/robot_descriptions.py/blob/main/robot_descriptions/_repositories.py#L125

Let me know if that works for you

[stephane-caron]

That sounds good! If it's more convenient for you at jrl-umi3218 to maintain the JVRC description here we can turn the one at robot-descriptions into a redirection :ok_hand:

Your plan makes total sense to me, we can proceed as follows:

• [x] URDF patch: @stephane-caron checks in all frameworks that the description loads properly → https://github.com/jrl-umi3218/jvrc_description/issues/2
• [ ] Update the readme here: @gergondet
• [x] Change the repo in robot_descriptions.py: @stephane-caron → https://github.com/robot-descriptions/robot_descriptions.py/pull/58

Then once it is done:

• [ ] Turn robot-descriptions/jvrc_description into a redirection to jrl-umi3218/jvrc_description: @stephane-caron