Add image onto box in URDF file

Question

I'm trying to display an image on top of a box in a .urdf file. How could I achieve this?

Answer 1

This ROS Answers response walks you through the steps. My answer is a summary of that post.

To add your image, called a texture, you first create a material file, let's call it box.material and input your image file:

material YourMaterialName{
    technique
    {
        pass
        {
            texture_unit
            {
                texture your_material_image.jpg
                scale 1 1
            }
        }   
    }
}

Then, in your URDF file, you add a reference to the material above the link, like so:

<gazebo reference="your_link">
    <material>YourMaterialName</material>
</gazebo>

Note that this approach only works for URDF primitives (boxes, cylinders, etc). If you are using a mesh file for your URDF you will need to use a different approach with a more complex material file.

Answer 2

I recomend you to watch this ROS Developers Live Class where it is explained how to build a URDF model of a robot: https://youtu.be/q01dDxeHTMs

The key point here is that you understand what is the difference between the collision and visual of the model, as well as the pose of those.