Remove dependency on robot_descriptions_cpp

Author: ManifoldFR

CHANGELOG.md

@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@ and this project adheres to [Semantic Versioning](https://semver.org/spec/v2.0.0
 
 ### Added
 
+- Added tools for loading models from a given description struct `RobotSpec` (https://github.com/Simple-Robotics/candlewick/pull/37)
 - Added Candlewick visualizer runtime, to be used to (up)load Pinocchio models and submit states to be displayed asynchronously. (https://github.com/Simple-Robotics/candlewick/pull/37)
 - Embed Inter Medium font into the application (https://github.com/Simple-Robotics/candlewick/pull/37)
 
@@ -22,6 +23,10 @@ and this project adheres to [Semantic Versioning](https://semver.org/spec/v2.0.0
 - `core/Device.h` : fix release() function
 - Python examples : wrap some import statements in try/except statements (https://github.com/Simple-Robotics/candlewick/pull/37)
 
+### Removed
+
+- Remove dependency on `robot_descriptions_cpp` (https://github.com/Simple-Robotics/candlewick/pull/37)
+
 ## [0.7.0] - 2025-07-04
 
 ### Added

examples/CMakeLists.txt

@@ -8,12 +8,15 @@ target_include_directories(
 )
 
 if(BUILD_PINOCCHIO_VISUALIZER)
+  find_package(example-robot-data REQUIRED)
   target_sources(ExamplesCommon PRIVATE lib/GenHeightfield.cpp)
-  target_link_libraries(ExamplesCommon PUBLIC candlewick_multibody)
-
-  set(ROBOT_DESCRIPTIONS_CPP_INSTALL OFF CACHE BOOL "")
-  set(ROBOT_DESCRIPTIONS_CPP_TESTING OFF CACHE BOOL "")
-  add_subdirectory(robot_descriptions_cpp EXCLUDE_FROM_ALL)
+  target_link_libraries(
+    ExamplesCommon
+    PUBLIC
+      candlewick_multibody
+      pinocchio::pinocchio_parsers
+      example-robot-data::example-robot-data
+  )
 endif()
 
 function(add_candlewick_example filename)
@@ -35,7 +38,6 @@ if(BUILD_PINOCCHIO_VISUALIZER)
   add_candlewick_example(
     Ur5WithSystems.cpp
     CLI11::CLI11
-    robot_descriptions_cpp
   )
-  add_candlewick_example(Visualizer.cpp CLI11::CLI11 robot_descriptions_cpp)
+  add_candlewick_example(Visualizer.cpp CLI11::CLI11)
 endif()

examples/Ur5WithSystems.cpp

@@ -13,6 +13,7 @@
 
 #include "candlewick/multibody/RobotScene.h"
 #include "candlewick/multibody/RobotDebug.h"
+#include "candlewick/multibody/RobotLoader.h"
 #include "candlewick/primitives/Primitives.h"
 #ifdef CANDLEWICK_WITH_FFMPEG_SUPPORT
 #include "candlewick/utils/VideoRecorder.h"
@@ -22,8 +23,6 @@
 #include <imgui.h>
 #include <imgui_impl_sdl3.h>
 
-#include <robot_descriptions_cpp/robot_spec.hpp>
-
 #include <pinocchio/multibody/model.hpp>
 #include <pinocchio/multibody/data.hpp>
 #include <pinocchio/multibody/geometry.hpp>
@@ -51,6 +50,7 @@
 namespace pin = pinocchio;
 using namespace candlewick;
 using multibody::RobotScene;
+using multibody::RobotSpec;
 
 /// Application constants
 
@@ -218,6 +218,15 @@ static void screenshot_button_callback(RenderContext &renderer,
                            wHeight, filename);
 }
 
+static const RobotSpec ur_robot_spec =
+    RobotSpec{
+        "urdf/ur5_gripper.urdf",
+        "srdf/ur5_gripper.srdf",
+        std::filesystem::path(EXAMPLE_ROBOT_DATA_MODEL_DIR).parent_path(),
+        "robots/ur_description",
+    }
+        .ensure_absolute_filepaths();
+
 int main(int argc, char **argv) {
   CLI::App app{"Ur5 example"};
   bool performRecording{false};
@@ -244,8 +253,7 @@ int main(int argc, char **argv) {
   // Load robot
   pin::Model model;
   pin::GeometryModel geom_model;
-  robot_descriptions::loadModelsFromToml("ur.toml", "ur5_gripper", model,
-                                         &geom_model, NULL, true);
+  loadModels(ur_robot_spec, model, &geom_model, NULL, true);
   // ADD HEIGHTFIELD GEOM
   // {
   //   auto hfield = generatePerlinNoiseHeightfield(40, 10u, 6.f);

examples/Visualizer.cpp

@@ -1,6 +1,5 @@
 #include "candlewick/multibody/Visualizer.h"
-
-#include <robot_descriptions_cpp/robot_spec.hpp>
+#include "candlewick/multibody/RobotLoader.h"
 
 #include <pinocchio/algorithm/joint-configuration.hpp>
 #include <pinocchio/algorithm/geometry.hpp>
@@ -12,6 +11,16 @@
 
 using namespace candlewick::multibody;
 using std::chrono::steady_clock;
+namespace fs = std::filesystem;
+
+static const RobotSpec ur_robot_spec =
+    RobotSpec{
+        "urdf/ur5_gripper.urdf",
+        "srdf/ur5_gripper.srdf",
+        fs::path(EXAMPLE_ROBOT_DATA_MODEL_DIR).parent_path(),
+        "robots/ur_description",
+    }
+        .ensure_absolute_filepaths();
 
 int main(int argc, char **argv) {
   CLI::App app{"Visualizer example"};
@@ -28,8 +37,7 @@ int main(int argc, char **argv) {
 
   pin::Model model;
   pin::GeometryModel geom_model;
-  robot_descriptions::loadModelsFromToml("ur.toml", "ur5_gripper", model,
-                                         &geom_model, NULL);
+  loadModels(ur_robot_spec, model, &geom_model, NULL);
 
   Visualizer visualizer{{window_dims[0], window_dims[1]}, model, geom_model};
   assert(!visualizer.hasExternalData());

examples/robot_descriptions_cpp

@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 #include "candlewick/multibody/Multibody.h"
 #include "candlewick/multibody/Visualizer.h"
+#include "candlewick/multibody/RobotLoader.h"
 
 #include <pinocchio/serialization/model.hpp>
 #include <pinocchio/serialization/geometry.hpp>
@@ -21,6 +22,7 @@ using cdw::multibody::Visualizer;
   constexpr std::string_view CMD_##name = #name
 
 CANDLEWICK_RUNTIME_DEFINE_COMMAND(send_models);
+CANDLEWICK_RUNTIME_DEFINE_COMMAND(send_urdf_spec);
 CANDLEWICK_RUNTIME_DEFINE_COMMAND(send_state);
 CANDLEWICK_RUNTIME_DEFINE_COMMAND(send_cam_pose);
 CANDLEWICK_RUNTIME_DEFINE_COMMAND(clean);
@@ -80,7 +82,7 @@ auto get_eigen_view_from_spec(const ArrayMessage &spec) {
 
 struct ApplicationContext {
   pin::Model model;
-  pin::GeometryModel geom_model;
+  pin::GeometryModel visual_model;
   zmq::context_t ctx{};
   zmq::socket_t sync_sock{ctx, zmq::socket_type::rep};
   zmq::socket_t state_sock{ctx, zmq::socket_type::sub};
@@ -102,13 +104,13 @@ bool handle_first_message(zmq::socket_ref sock, ApplicationContext &app_ctx) {
       std::array<std::string, 2> model_strings;
       obj.convert(model_strings);
       app_ctx.model.loadFromString(model_strings[0]);
-      app_ctx.geom_model.loadFromString(model_strings[1]);
+      app_ctx.visual_model.loadFromString(model_strings[1]);
       // send response only when models loaded.
       sock.send(zmq::str_buffer("ok"));
 
       SDL_Log("Loaded model with %d joints", app_ctx.model.njoints);
       SDL_Log("Loaded geometry model with %zd gobjs",
-              app_ctx.geom_model.ngeoms);
+              app_ctx.visual_model.ngeoms);
       return true;
     } else {
       SDL_Log("First message must have header \'%s\', got \'%s\'. Retry.",
@@ -203,7 +205,7 @@ int main(int argc, char **argv) {
   Visualizer::Config config;
   config.width = window_dims[0];
   config.height = window_dims[1];
-  Visualizer viz{config, app_ctx.model, app_ctx.geom_model};
+  Visualizer viz{config, app_ctx.model, app_ctx.visual_model};
 
   run_main_loop(viz, app_ctx);