How to add new models to the simulation?

Question

We are developing a Drake project for a grocery robot that will collect several items from shelves. I want to add some new object models to the simulation for variety, however so far I have been unable to add any other model than the ones already provided here.

I tried adding the meshes here and here but for some reason the object textures never load, as can be seen in the below photo (I tried adding the pudding box model but as you can see the box appears plain white). I have also tried following this guide but the same issue persists. What should I do to correctly add new models? Also, is there any other repository where I can find more models?

The corresponding part in our repository where we specify the meshes and the model hierarchy can be found here: https://github.com/ardaOnal/grocery-bee/tree/main/src/python/models/meshes ]

Answer 1

When dealing with a new model, the first, best way to get a sense of how it should appear in Drake is with model_visualizer. Without setting up a simulation or any further overhead, it allows you to simply visualize your SDF/URDF (it has some other features as well, but you can discover those on your own).

I downloaded the pudding box sdf (and its accompanying obj, mtl, and png files) in the same relative folder structure shown in the repo.

Then, running model_visualizer as follows:

bazel run //tools:model_visualizer -- -w /my/path/to/pudding_box.sdf

I saw the following:

So, what that suggests to me is that you have some path problems. Some data is not being found. You should check the console to see if Drake is making any complaints. I'll look a bit more closely at your set up to see if I can detect something obvious.