World File Syntax

The world file contains a description of the world to be simulated by Gazebo.

It describes the layout of robots, sensors, light sources, user interface components, and so on. The world file can also be used to control some aspects of the simulation engine, such as the force of gravity or simulation time step.

Gazebo world files are written in XML, and can thus be created and modified using a text editor. Sample world files can be found in the worlds directory of the source distribution, or in the installed version (default install) under:

/usr/local/share/gazebo/worlds/

Key Concepts and Basic Syntax

The world consists mainly of model declarations. A model can be a robot (e.g. a Pioneer2AT or SegwayRMP), a sensor (e.g. SICK LMS200), a static feature of the world (e.g. Terrain) or some manipulable object.

Other elements within a world file indicate how to render a scene via the ogre declaration, attributes of the GUI via the gui declaration, and properties of the physics engine via the ode declaration. These declarations are required by Gazebo.

Each world file is encapsulated by:

<gazebo:world>
...
</gazebo:world>

The contents describe a single simulation configuration. Each top level declaration is preprended by a namespace prefix that describes the declaration type. For example, the ogre declaration is prepended by rendering:

<rendering:ogre>
...
</rendering:ogre>

Coordinate Systems and Units

By convention, Gazebo uses a right-handed coordinate system, with x and y in the plane, and z increasing with altitude. Most models are designed such that the are upright (with respect to the z axis) and pointing along the positive x axis. The tag <xyz;> is used to indicate an object's position (x, y and z coordinates); the tag <rpy;> is used to indicate an objects orientation (Euler angles; i.e., roll, pitch and yaw). For example, <xyz;>1 2 3</xyz;> indicates a translation of 1~m along the x-axis, 2~m along the y-axis and 3~m along the z-axis; <rpy;>10 20 30</rpy;> indicates a rotation of 30~degrees about the z-axis (yaw), followed by a rotation of 20~degrees about the y-axis (pitch) and a rotation of 10~degrees about the x-axis (roll).

Unless otherwise specified, the world file uses SI units (meters, seconds, kilograms, etc). One exception is angles and angular velocities, which are measured in degrees and degrees/sec, respectively.

Model Syntax

A model is a phyiscal entity within the world. It consists of one or more bodies, each of which contains one or more geometries or sensors. For example, a model of a box would be:

<model:physical name="box_model">
  <body:box name="box_body">
    <geom:box name="box_geom"/>
  </body:box>
</model:physical>

Note that each model, body, and geom must have a name. Unique names are highly suggested but not enforced.

The above example is simplified. Attributes that indicate the size, shape, mass, position, and texture of the model have been left out. The following is a complete box model:

<model:physical name="box_model">
  <xyz>0 1.5 0.5</xyz>
  <rpy>0.0 0.0 0.0</rpy>
  <canonicalBody>box1_body</canonicalBody>
  <static>false</static>

  <body:box name="box_body">
    <xyz>0.0 0.0 0.0</xyz>
    <rpy>0.0 0.0 0.0</rpy>

    <geom:box name="box_geom">
      <xyz>0.0 0.0 0.0</xyz>
      <rpy>0.0 0.0 0.0</rpy>
      <mesh>default</mesh>
      <size>1 1 1</size>
      <density>1.0</density>
      <material>Gazebo/BumpyMetal</material>
    </geom:box>
  </body:box>
</model:physical>

xyz : Position relative to parent
rpy : Orientation relative to parent
canonicalBody : Body used to attached child and parent models
static : Set to true to make the model immovable
mesh : The "skin" of the geom, this is not used for collision detection
size : Size of the geometry.
density : Density of the geometry
material : Material used to color and texture the geometry

The entire physical characteristics of a model is encapsulated within the xml. Joints are attached bettween two bodies with the same modele using:

<joint:hinge name="left_wheel_hinge">
  <body1>body1_name</body1>
  <body2>body2_name</body2>
  <anchor>body2_name</anchor>
  <axis>0 1 0</axis>
  <erp>0.4</erp>
  <cfm>0.008</cfm>
</joint:hinge>

body1 : First body used by the joint. The parameter is the name of the body.
body2 : Second body used by the joint. The parameter is the name of the body.
anchor : The body to use ad the joint achor.The parameter is the name of the body.
axis : Axis of rotation for the joint.
erp : Error reduction parameter, see ODE
cfm : Constraint force mixing parameter, see ODE

The above exmple creates a hinge joint between body1_name and body2_name, both of which must exist within the model.

Complex models can become quite long and cumbersome to use, especially when the same model is required numerous times in the same world. To alleviate this issue, model's can be written in separate files and included within a world.

The above model can be saved as box.model and used within the world:

<include embedded="false">
  <xi:include href="box.model"/>
</include>

embedded : False if the included file does not need parameters overwritten.
href : The location of the model file

Sometimes it is useful to include the same model with slightly different paramters. This can be accomplished by creating a new model, with a nested include:

<model:physical name="box_model1">
  <xyz> 1 1 0 </xyz>
  <include embedded="true">
    <xi:include href="box.model"/>
  </include>
</model:physical>

Note that the include should be last within the model declaration.

See pioneer2dx.world and pioneer2dx.model for a more elaborate examples.

Controllers and Interfaces

A model can contain one ore more controllers. A controller is used to either read data from a sensor or manipulate bodies, and is designed to emulate a specific device. For example, in pioneer2dx.world the pioneer2dx_position2d controller is used to simulate the drive train of a Pioneer 2 dx.

Each controller makes use of one or more interfaces. An interface defines what data is exposed via libgazebo. For example, the pioneer2dx_position2d controller can utilize the position interface.

The following example creates a pioneer2d_position2d controller called "controller1", that controller the left and right joints with names "left_wheel_hinge" and "right_wheel_hinge". The interface is a position interface named "position_iface_1".

<controller:pioneer2dx_position2d name="controller1">
  <leftJoint>left_wheel_hinge</leftJoint>
  <rightJoint>right_wheel_hinge</rightJoint>
  <interface:position name="position_iface_1"/>
</controller:pioneer2dx_position2d>

Physics Syntax

The ODE physics simulator makes use of a few global parameters, which can be defined with the world file.

<physics:ode>
  <stepTime>0.03</stepTime>
  <gravity>0 0 -9.8</gravity>
  <cfm>0.008</cfm>
  <erp>0.2</erp>
</physics:ode>

stepTime : Number of seconds the physics simulation should progress during each update.
gravity : Vector that describes the direction and magnitude of gravity.
cfm : The global constraint force mixing.
erp : The global error reduction parameter.

GUI Syntax

This declaration indicates what GUI to use, and some basic parameters such as size and position of the GUI.

<rendering:gui>
  <type>fltk</type>
  <size>640 480</size>
  <pos>0 0</pos>
</rendering:gui>

type : Type of GUI. Currently only fltk is supported.
size : Size of the rendering window.
pos : Position of the rendering window.

If no rendering:gui section is found in the configuration file, Gazebo will run in no-GUI mode. In this mode, the physical simulation is still being made but it is not displayed on the screen. Useful to save rendering resources if not needed.

Rendering Syntax

Gazebo makes use of the OGRE rendering engine. OGRE can be configured to include sky boxes, fog, ambient light, and various resources. All of these parameters are defined within the rendering:ogre declaration.

Ambient light is specified using:

<ambient>1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0</ambient>
\verbatim

The material used for the sky box is specified using:
\verbatim
  <sky>
    <material>Gazebo/CloudySky</material>
  </sky>

The shadowing method is specified using:

<shadowTechnique>stencilAdditive</shadowTechnique>

<shadowTechnique>textureAdditive</shadowTechnique>

By default stencilAdditive will be used.

The texture size of the shadows can be specified by: <shadowTextureSize>256</shadowTextureSize> By default 512 is used.

The grid can be disabled with: /verbatim <grid>false</grid> /endverbatim

Fog is specified using:

<fog>
  <color>0.8 0.8 0.8</color>
  <type>linear</type>
  <density>0.0</density>
  <linearStart>50.0</linearStart>
  <linearEnd>515.0</linearEnd>
</fog>

color : Color of the fog
type : Type of fog (linear, exp, exp2)
density : Density of the fog
linearStart : Distance from the camera to begin rendering fog
linearEnd : Distance from the camera to stop rendering fog

OGRE resources are specified using the following (most people should only change the path information to match where they installed Gazebo):

<plugins path="/usr/local/lib/OGRE">
  <plugin>RenderSystem_GL.so</plugin>
  <plugin>Plugin_ParticleFX.so</plugin>
  <plugin>Plugin_BSPSceneManager.so</plugin>
  <plugin>Plugin_OctreeSceneManager.so</plugin>
</plugins>

<resources path="/usr/local/share/gazebo">
  <bootstrap>
    <zip>Media/packs/OgreCore.zip</zip>
  </bootstrap>

  <general>
    <filesystem>Media</filesystem>
    <filesystem>Media/fonts</filesystem>
    <filesystem>Media/materials/programs</filesystem>
    <filesystem>Media/materials/scripts</filesystem>
    <filesystem>Media/materials/textures</filesystem>
    <filesystem>Media/models</filesystem>
    <filesystem>Media/overlays</filesystem>
    <filesystem>Media/particle</filesystem>
    <filesystem>Media/gui</filesystem>
    <zip>Media/packs/cubemap.zip</zip>
    <zip>Media/packs/cubemapsJS.zip</zip>
    <zip>Media/packs/skybox.zip</zip>
  </general>
</resources>

Last updated Aug 04 2007