CAD to URDF or SDF?

So it seems that NVidia is getting more serious about the workflow of building robots including 3d Simulation with Isaac Sim and now Omniverse Isaac Sim.

Are there any tools or recommendations from Nvidia around taking existing CAD models of robots and generating the URDF needed for ROS and the SDF needed for Gazebo?

im fairly new so my vision of possibilities may be super narrow. Or maybe the possibilities are indeed narrowed to what i just mentioned?

ideally i would love to generate an initial CAD model from a video or image or maybe a 3D scanner? The i can jump into fusion360 or solidworks and make detailed parts.

then i can export this to a 3d engine like Unity, and to Gazebo, RViz or NVidia Omniverse Isaac Sim? Even print the parts with a 3D printer? Maybe all these can run in Omniverse/Metaverse?

Hi Juan,

You are absolutely right, we at NVIDIA are heavily investing on 3D workflow for robotics. We will soon have better tools for importing CAD model into simulator.
and then you can import your CAD model into Omnivrse Isaac Sim and work with it. It is even possible to print the parts with #d printer.

Kindly,
Liila

thanks. do you have a special secret preview program i can be a part of? what are the timelines?

HI Juan,

There is no private preview :)
The next Isaac Sim release will be out early June.

Kindly,
Liila

Hello,
I can see that I can made a 3d model in onshape and import into ISaac Sim but can i export from ISAAC sim into URDF?

Not yet, but this is on the roadmap. one work around is to convert the USD to SDF and then convert the sdf to urdf

I posted a feature request to the Fusion 360 Forum requesting they add URDF exports to Fusion with the hope we could someday export jointed robots from Fusion for Isaac Sim. If you or anyone else reading this have a moment, I suggest giving it a thumbs up on the Fusion Forum so developers there know it’s a feature that more people want. Maybe we can get it on their roadmap.

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We’d love a Fusion360 to IsaacSim workflow too. Sozno if you shar ea link to that post on the Fusion forum I’ll upvote!

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