With the increasing complexity of robot systems, it is necessary to simulate them before deployment. To do this, a model of the robot's kinematics or dynamics is required. One of the most commonly used formats for modeling robots is the Unified Robot Description Format (URDF). The goal of this article is to understand how URDF is currently used, what challenges people face when working with it, and how the community sees the future of URDF. The outcome can potentially be used to guide future research. This article presents the results from a survey based on 510 anonymous responses from robotic developers of different backgrounds and levels of experience. We find that 96.8% of the participants have simulated robots before, and of them 95.5% had used URDF. We identify a number of challenges and limitations that complicate the use of URDF, such as the inability to model parallel linkages and closed-chain systems, no real standard, lack of documentation, and a limited number of dynamic parameters to model the robot. Future perspectives for URDF are also determined, where 53.5% believe URDF will be more commonly used in the future, 12.2% believe other standards or tools will make URDF obsolete, and 34.4% are not sure what the future of URDF will be. Most participants agree that there is a need for better tooling to ensure URDF's future use.
翻译:随着机器人系统日益复杂, 必须在部署之前模拟机器人系统。 为此, 需要用机器人运动或动态模型模型来模拟机器人运动或动态。 模拟机器人的最常用格式之一是统一机器人描述格式( URDF )。 文章的目标是了解URDF目前是如何使用的, 人们在与URDF合作时面临哪些挑战, 以及社区如何看待URDF的未来。 其结果有可能用于指导未来的研究。 文章展示了基于不同背景和经验水平的机器人开发者510个匿名答复的调查结果。 我们发现,96.8%的参与者以前模拟过机器人,其中95.5%的人使用了URDF 。 我们找出了使URDF的使用复杂化的一些挑战和限制, 例如无法模拟平行连接和闭锁系统,没有真正的标准,缺乏文件,以及模拟机器人的动态参数有限。 URDF的未来前景也已经确定, 在那里, 53.5% 相信URDF 在未来将更常用, 12.2% 相信其他标准或工具将使得UR4参与者未来更难使用。</s>