README.md

gzyarp::RobotInterface Plugin

name	filename
gzyarp::RobotInterface	gz-sim-yarp-robotinterface-system

The gzyarp::RobotInterface plugin is used to instantiate arbitrary YARP devices as part of a gz-sim simulation, using the YARP RobotInterface library.

Particularly, tipically the YARP devices that simulate hardware devices are instantiated via dedicated gz-sim-yarp-* gz-sim plugins, while to launch any other YARP device, for example Network Wrapper Servers to expose YARP devices functionalities in dedicated middlewares like YARP ports or ROS2 topics, you need to use the gzyarp::RobotInterface plugin.

Usage

Add the gzyarp::RobotInterface plugin to the model SDF after all the plugin declarations that instantiated YARP devices that you want to use.

An example of its usage can be seen in the tutorial/single_pendulum/single_pendulum_world.sdf

A more complete example of the usage is:

        <plugin name="gzyarp::ControlBoard" filename="gz-sim-yarp-controlboard-system">
            <yarpConfigurationFile>
                model://single_pendulum/conf/gazebo_controlboard.ini
            </yarpConfigurationFile>
        </plugin>
        <!-- Launch the other YARP devices, in this case a controlBoard_nws_yarp to expose the
        controlboard functionalities via YARP ports -->
        <plugin name="gzyarp::RobotInterface" filename="gz-sim-yarp-robotinterface-system">
            <yarpRobotInterfaceConfigurationFile>
                model://single_pendulum/conf/single_pendulum_nws.xml
            </yarpRobotInterfaceConfigurationFile>
            <!-- This element can be used to pass "enable" tags to the libYARP_robotinterface instance -->
            <yarpRobotInterfaceEnableTags>
            (enable_tag1 enable_tag2)
            </yarpRobotInterfaceEnableTags>
            <!-- This element can be used to pass "disable" tags to the libYARP_robotinterface instance -->
            <yarpRobotInterfaceDisableTags>
            (disable_tagA)
            </yarpRobotInterfaceDisableTags>
            <!-- This element can be used to override the port prefix with the top-level model name (default: false) -->
            <yarpRobotInterfaceOverridePortPrefixWithModelName>true</yarpRobotInterfaceOverridePortPrefixWithModelName>
        </plugin>

The yarpRobotInterfaceEnableTags and yarpRobotInterfaceDisableTags can also be overriden via the gzyarp::ConfigurationOverride plugin, for example if model://model_with_robotinterface_inside is a gz-sim model with a gzyarp::RobotInterface plugin inside, you can specify the enable_tags or disable_tags to specify with:

    <model name="robotinterface_with_overriden_tags">
        <plugin name='gzyarp::ConfigurationOverride' filename='gz-sim-yarp-configurationoverride-system'>
            <!-- The yarpPluginConfigurationOverride device is used to override the configuration of
                 a given gzyarp::RobotInterface plugin, whose name (the one specified inside the xml file) is specified with yarpRobotInterfaceName, or you can specify `all` to ensure that the enable tags will be specified for all -->
            <yarpPluginConfigurationOverride yarpRobotInterfaceName='all'/>
            <yarpRobotInterfaceEnableTags>(enable_tag1)</yarpRobotInterfaceEnableTags>
            <yarpRobotInterfaceDisableTags>(disable_tagA disable_tagB)</yarpRobotInterfaceDisableTags>
            <yarpRobotInterfaceOverridePortPrefixWithModelName>true</yarpRobotInterfaceOverridePortPrefixWithModelName>
        </plugin>
        <include>
            <uri>model://model_with_robotinterface_inside</uri>
        </include>
    </model>

Reference documentation of plugin child XML elements

XML element	Documentation
yarpRobotInterfaceConfigurationFile	The YARP robotinterface XML file that specifies the YARP devices that will be launched by the gzyarp::RobotInterface plugin.
yarpRobotInterfaceEnableTags	This element can be used to pass "enable" tags to the libYARP_robotinterface instance.
yarpRobotInterfaceDisableTags	This element can be used to pass "disable" tags to the libYARP_robotinterface instance.
yarpRobotInterfaceOverridePortPrefixWithModelName	Boolean flag (default: false). When set to true, the port prefix specified in the robotinterface XML file will be overridden with the top-level model name (the model name specified at the world level in the SDF). When false, the original port prefix from the XML file is preserved.