home / skills / zeeshan080 / ai-native-robotics / urdf-templates

urdf-templates skill

safe

This skill helps you generate and validate URDF templates, ensuring safety annotations, joint limits, and inertial data for reliable robotics simulations.

npx playbooks add skill zeeshan080/ai-native-robotics --skill urdf-templates

Review the files below or copy the command above to add this skill to your agents.

Files (4)

SKILL.md

1.5 KB

---
name: urdf-templates
description: URDF structure templates and validation patterns for robotics content. Use when creating robot descriptions, validating URDF files, or teaching URDF concepts.
allowed-tools: Read, Grep
---

# URDF Templates

## Instructions

When working with URDF files:

1. Use the provided templates as starting points
2. Validate against the checklist in validation.md
3. Include safety annotations for joint limits
4. Add comments explaining each section

## Template Selection

| Robot Type | Template | Use Case |
|------------|----------|----------|
| Mobile Robot | mobile-robot.urdf | Wheeled robots, differential drive |
| Humanoid Base | humanoid-base.urdf | Bipedal robots, upper body |

## URDF Structure Overview

```xml
<robot name="robot_name">
  <!-- Links define physical parts -->
  <link name="base_link">
    <visual>...</visual>
    <collision>...</collision>
    <inertial>...</inertial>
  </link>

  <!-- Joints connect links -->
  <joint name="joint_name" type="revolute">
    <parent link="parent_link"/>
    <child link="child_link"/>
    <limit lower="-1.57" upper="1.57" effort="100" velocity="1.0"/>
  </joint>
</robot>
```

## Safety Requirements

1. **Always specify joint limits** - Never leave limits undefined
2. **Include inertial properties** - Required for physics simulation
3. **Add collision geometry** - Required for safe simulation
4. **Document mass values** - Use realistic values

## Reference

See [validation.md](validation.md) for validation rules.
See [templates/](templates/) for complete templates.

Overview

This skill provides URDF structure templates and validation patterns tailored for robotics content. It bundles starter templates for mobile and humanoid robots, a compact URDF structure guide, and a concise safety checklist to ensure simulation-ready descriptions. Use it to speed up robot model authoring and to enforce minimal validation rules for physics and safety.

How this skill works

The skill supplies ready-to-edit URDF templates and a checklist that inspects key elements: links, joints, inertial properties, collision geometry, and joint limits. It flags missing or unsafe configurations and recommends corrective actions, such as adding inertial blocks, defining limits, or correcting mass values. Templates include commented examples so authors can adapt parts and joints quickly.

When to use it

Creating a new robot description for simulation or control
Validating URDF files before running physics or motion planners
Teaching URDF structure and best practices in classes or workshops
Converting conceptual designs into a simulation-ready model
Auditing existing models for missing safety or physics data

Best practices

Always specify joint limits (lower, upper, effort, velocity) to prevent unsafe commands
Include inertial properties for every link to enable accurate dynamics
Add collision geometry separate from visual meshes to ensure robust collision detection
Document realistic mass values and units for traceability
Comment each section to explain design intent and assumptions

Example use cases

Start a wheeled mobile robot by copying the mobile-robot.urdf template and customizing wheel joints
Prepare a humanoid base model by adapting the humanoid-base.urdf and filling inertial blocks for each limb
Run a quick validation pass to find missing collision elements or undefined joint limits before simulation
Use templates in an educational lab to teach students how links, joints, and limits interact
Audit a repository of URDFs to ensure every model includes safety annotations and mass documentation

FAQ

Do templates include both visual and collision geometry?

Yes. Templates separate visual and collision tags and recommend using simplified collision meshes.

What if I don’t have inertial data?

Estimate inertial properties from realistic mass and approximate geometry, but avoid leaving them empty; the templates show minimal inertial blocks to fill.