Serving URDF Files Locally

This tutorial shows you how to serve a URDF file locally. We will use the MIT Mini Cheetah robot as an example.

Before you start, let’s first download the URDF file from here.

mkdir -p mini_cheetah/meshes
cd "mini_cheetah" && wget -O "mini_cheetah.urdf" https://github.com/geyang/unitree-go1-setup-guide/raw/main/robots/mini_cheetah/mini_cheetah.urdf
cd "meshes"
wget -O "mini_abad.obj" https://github.com/geyang/unitree-go1-setup-guide/raw/main/robots/mini_cheetah/meshes/mini_abad.obj
wget -O "mini_body.obj" https://github.com/geyang/unitree-go1-setup-guide/raw/main/robots/mini_cheetah/meshes/mini_body.obj
wget -O "mini_lower_link.obj" https://github.com/geyang/unitree-go1-setup-guide/raw/main/robots/mini_cheetah/meshes/mini_lower_link.obj
wget -O "mini_upper_link.obj" https://github.com/geyang/unitree-go1-setup-guide/raw/main/robots/mini_cheetah/meshes/mini_upper_link.obj

You should have the following directory structure:

├── meshes
│   ├── mini_abad.obj
│   ├── mini_body.obj
│   ├── mini_lower_link.obj
│   └── mini_upper_link.obj
└── mini_cheetah.urdf

2 directories, 5 files

import math
from asyncio import sleep
from pathlib import Path

from vuer import Vuer, VuerSession
from vuer.schemas import DefaultScene, Urdf, Movable

pi = 3.1415

app = Vuer(static_root=Path(__file__).parent / "mini_cheetah")


# this starts the vuer server immediately after this function is declared.
@app.spawn(start=True)
async def main(app: VuerSession):
    # Note: you can only use `set` operator with Scene objects. This is a special operator.
    app.set @ DefaultScene(
        Movable(
            Urdf(
                src="http://localhost:8012/static/mini_cheetah.urdf",
                jointValues={
                    "FL_hip_joint": -0.2,
                    "RL_hip_joint": -0.2,
                    "FR_hip_joint": 0.2,
                    "RR_hip_joint": 0.2,
                    "FL_thigh_joint": -0.25 * pi,
                    "RL_thigh_joint": -0.25 * pi,
                    "FR_thigh_joint": -1.3,
                    "RR_thigh_joint": -0.25 * pi,
                    "FL_calf_joint": 0.5 * pi,
                    "RL_calf_joint": 0.5 * pi,
                    "FR_calf_joint": 0.6 * pi,
                    "RR_calf_joint": 0.5 * pi,
                },
                key="robot",
            ),
            position=[0, 0, 0.3],
            scale=0.4,
        ),
        grid=True,
    )
    await sleep(0.1)

    i = 0
    while True:
        app.update @ Urdf(
            src="http://localhost:8012/static/mini_cheetah.urdf",
            jointValues={
                "FL_hip_joint": -0.2,
                "RL_hip_joint": -0.2,
                "FR_hip_joint": 0.2,
                "RR_hip_joint": 0.2,
                "FL_thigh_joint": -0.25 * pi,
                "RL_thigh_joint": -0.25 * pi,
                "FR_thigh_joint": 0.5 * math.sin(i * 0.1) - 1.3,
                "RR_thigh_joint": -0.25 * pi,
                "FL_calf_joint": 0.5 * pi,
                "RL_calf_joint": 0.5 * pi,
                "FR_calf_joint": -0.5 * math.sin(i * 0.1) + 0.6 * pi,
                "RR_calf_joint": 0.5 * pi,
            },
            key="robot",
        )
        await sleep(0.016)
        i += 1

Now, if your script runs correctly, the robot should show up in the following view: