Skip to content

V1.3.0

Choose a tag to compare

View all tags
@boelnasr boelnasr released this 06 Jan 17:32
· 518 commits to main since this release
V1.3.0
49003b0

[1.3.0] - 2026-01-05

Summary: This release introduces a comprehensive native URDF parser with NumPy 2.0+ compatibility, enhanced URDF processor backbone, improved robot data organization, and comprehensive documentation. The native parser provides zero external URDF dependencies, batch forward kinematics (50x+ speedup), multi-robot scene management, and programmatic URDF modification for calibration and payload simulation. The ManipulaPy_data folder has been cleaned up with automated validation ensuring all 25 robot models are accessible and parseable.

Impact:

  • ✅ NumPy 2.0+ compatible URDF parsing (no urchin dependency required)
  • ✅ Batch FK: 50x+ faster than individual calls for trajectory analysis
  • ✅ Multi-robot scenes: Manage multiple robots in shared workspace
  • ✅ URDF modification: Programmatic calibration and payload simulation
  • ✅ Enhanced URDFToSerialManipulator with new convenience methods
  • ✅ PyBullet now optional for urdf_processor (graceful degradation)
  • ✅ Cleaned robot data folder (6.7 MB space saved)
  • ✅ Comprehensive robot catalog documentation (382-line MANIFEST.md)
  • ✅ Automated validation for all 25 robots
  • ✅ Clear separation of production URDFs vs source packages

Added

  • Native URDF Parser (ManipulaPy/urdf/)

    • Core parser (core.py, parser.py, types.py): Complete URDF parsing with NumPy 2.0+ support
    • Batch FK (link_fk_batch()): Vectorized forward kinematics, 50x+ faster for multiple configurations
    • Multi-robot scenes (scene.py): Scene class for managing multiple robots with world-frame transforms
    • URDF modifiers (modifiers.py): URDFModifier class for calibration offsets, payload simulation, mass scaling
    • Package resolver (resolver.py): Resolve package:// URIs from ROS packages
    • Validation (validation.py): validate_urdf() for structure validation with cycle/multi-root detection
    • Xacro support (xacro.py): Automatic macro expansion for .xacro files
    • Geometry handling (geometry/): Primitives (Box, Cylinder, Sphere) and mesh loading (STL, OBJ, DAE)
    • Visualization (visualization/): Trimesh and PyBullet visualization backends (lazy-loaded)
    • All URDF joint types supported: revolute, continuous, prismatic, fixed, planar, floating
    • Mimic joints with automatic master-slave coupling
    • Transmission and actuator parsing

  • Enhanced URDFToSerialManipulator (urdf_processor.py)

    • New forward_kinematics() method for direct FK computation
    • New link_fk() method for all-link transforms via native parser
    • New batch_forward_kinematics() for vectorized FK (50x+ speedup)
    • New get_end_effector_transforms() convenience method
    • New jacobian() method for Jacobian computation
    • New inverse_kinematics() with "robust", "smart", "iterative" methods
    • New get_transform() for transforms between arbitrary frames
    • New create_modifier() for URDF calibration/payload modification
    • New validate() method for URDF structure validation
    • Properties: num_dofs, joint_names, link_names, end_effector_name, joint_limits_array
    • __repr__() for informative string representation

  • Convenience functions (urdf_processor.py)

    • load_robot(): Quick robot loading from URDF
    • create_multi_robot_scene(): Create Scene for multi-robot management

  • Documentation

    • ManipulaPy/urdf/README.md: Comprehensive URDF parser documentation
    • ManipulaPy/urdf/TROUBLESHOOTING.md: 8-section troubleshooting guide
    • Examples/notebooks/urdf_parser_tutorial.ipynb: Interactive Jupyter notebook tutorial
    • Examples/intermediate_examples/urdf_calibration_example.py: Robot calibration workflows
    • Examples/intermediate_examples/urdf_payload_simulation_example.py: Payload simulation examples
    • urdf_parser_plan.md: Implementation status and architecture documentation

  • Robot Data Validation (scripts/validate_manipulapy_data.py)

    • Automated validation script for all robots in database
    • Checks URDF file accessibility and parseability
    • Optional mesh loading validation
    • Database statistics reporting
    • CI/CD integration ready with exit codes
    • Usage: python scripts/validate_manipulapy_data.py [--check-meshes] [--stats-only]

  • Comprehensive Robot Catalog Documentation

    • MANIFEST.md (382 lines): Complete robot catalog with specifications
      • Directory structure explanation (Production vs Source packages)
      • All 25 robots documented with DOF, payload, reach specs
      • Usage examples for common workflows
      • Mesh path resolution guide
      • Troubleshooting section for common issues
      • Best practices for loading and using robots
    • MANIPULAPY_DATA_STATUS.md: Detailed analysis and recommendations
    • MANIPULAPY_DATA_CLEANUP_SUMMARY.md: Complete cleanup summary
    • IMPLEMENTATION_STATUS.md: Unified implementation status tracker

Changed

  • URDF Processor improvements (urdf_processor.py)

    • PyBullet now optional - graceful degradation if not installed
    • Default use_pybullet_limits=False (use URDF limits directly)
    • New load_meshes parameter for optional mesh loading
    • New validate parameter for optional URDF validation
    • Better type hints with Union[str, Path] for file paths
    • Improved docstrings with usage examples

  • Package initialization (__init__.py)

    • Updated urdf_processor to not require simulation features
    • URDF module exports updated with new classes

  • ManipulaPy_data Organization

    • Removed duplicate ur5/ folder (6.7 MB) - using universal_robots/ur5/ instead
    • Removed empty ur/ folder (12 KB)
    • Reorganized documentation to clearly separate production URDFs from source packages
    • Updated folder structure to be more intuitive and consistent
    • Total size reduced from ~150 MB to ~143 MB

  • Robot Database (ManipulaPy_data/__init__.py)

    • All 25 robots verified and accessible
    • Clean API: get_robot_urdf(), list_robots(), get_robot_info()
    • Manufacturer and DOF filtering functions
    • Backward compatibility maintained

Fixed

  • PyBullet optional dependency - urdf_processor.py no longer crashes if PyBullet not installed
  • Joint limit extraction - Now handles prismatic joints in PyBullet limit extraction
  • Memory management - Added try/finally for PyBullet disconnect in _get_joint_limits_from_pybullet()
  • Data Organization Issues
    • Removed confusing duplicate folders
    • Clarified purpose of *_description source packages
    • Fixed inconsistent folder hierarchy

Validation Results

  • ✅ All 25 robots accessible via database API
  • ✅ All 25 robots parse successfully with native URDF parser
  • ✅ 8 manufacturers, 68 URDF/xacro files validated
  • ✅ DOF distribution: 2 (1-DOF), 18 (6-DOF), 5 (7-DOF)

Statistics

Metric Value
Total Robots 25 models
Manufacturers 8 (Universal Robots, Fanuc, KUKA, Kinova, Franka, UFactory, Robotiq, ABB)
URDF Files 68 files
Total Size ~143 MB
Space Saved 6.7 MB
Documentation 4 new comprehensive guides

Dependencies

  • Required: numpy>=1.19.2 (including NumPy 2.0+)
  • Optional (lazy-loaded):
    • trimesh - Mesh loading and visualization
    • pybullet - Alternative backend and visualization
    • scipy - Rotation utilities
    • pyyaml - YAML calibration files
Assets 2
Loading