rosservice delete_model doesn't fully delete the model.

[BenBlumer]

If I spawn a resource-intensive model (e.g. the PR2) the memory used by Gazebo increases (about 45mb for the PR2). Upon deleting it, A) the memory is still used by Gazebo and B) spawning a model with the same name doesn't work properly.

This is a problem because: If a user needs to delete and spawn a model a few times, Gazebo starts using a lot of memory and running really slowly.

Ubuntu 14.04, Gazebo 5.1.0, ROS Indigo. To duplicate:

Launch an emptyworld: roslaunch gazebo_ros empty_world.launch

CD to the PR2 folder (this is my Gazeo Models location): cd ~/.gazebo/models/pr2 (Note the memory being used by gzclient and gzserver using, e.g., Ubuntu's System Monitor)

Spawn a PR2

rosservice call /gazebo/spawn_sdf_model "model_name: 'pr'
model_xml: '`cat model.sdf`'
robot_namespace: 'joe'
initial_pose:
  position: {x: 0.0, y: 0.0, z: 0.0}
  orientation: {x: 0.0, y: 0.0, z: 0.0, w: 0.0}
reference_frame: ''" 

The PR2 appears. (Note the memory being used has increased)

issue A Now delete the model: rosservice call /gazebo/delete_model "model_name: 'pr'" The PR2 disappears. (Note the memory being used hasn't decreased. If you spawn again with a different name, you get a larger increase in memory use.)

Issue B

Spawn the PR2 again with the same name

rosservice call /gazebo/spawn_sdf_model "model_name: 'prr'
model_xml: '`cat model.sdf`'
robot_namespace: 'joe'
initial_pose:
  position: {x: 0.0, y: 0.0, z: 0.0}
  orientation: {x: 0.0, y: 0.0, z: 0.0, w: 0.0}
reference_frame: ''" 

Memory use increases. You can see the PR2's blue "sensor lines", but the model doesn't appear.

[BenBlumer]

Anyone have a workaround for this problem?

[hsu]

may be related to this issue in gazebo

[BenBlumer]

Seems likely. I used a fix that's similar to yours for respawning the models -- adding a suffix to "rename" them. Though I did it on the user side. It was only once my simulations slowed down by a factor of 100x that I realized I needed a proper delete :)

Thanks for looking into this, Hsu!