- 0.8.0
- 0.8.2
- latest_stable
- Documentation version: 0.6.6
Conventions and Guidelines¶
This is the set of conventions all users are highly recommended to follow. Sticking to them will guarantee that OpenRAVE modules can inter-operate with each other.
Geometric Conventions¶
- Internal matrices are in column-order, row-major format. If this is confusing, check out this guide. This means affine matrix representation is using the standard math way. All matrices are serialized in column-major format, this is to make it simpler for Octave/Matlab to convert between matrices. Note that python expects row-major matrices, which require transposition when passed around the two interfaces.
- Quaternions, the preferred way of representing rotations, are defined with the scalar value as the first component. For example [w x y z] or [cos sin*axis].
- A pose is an affine transformation specified as a quaternion and translation. It serializes into 7 values, the first 4 being the quaternion.
- Distances between two rotations is
, where each rotation is represented as a quaternion. For rotations close to each other, this is sometimes approximated as:
.
- Joint axis rotation is counter-cockwise.
Robot Conventions¶
- A robot’s up direction is on the positive z-axis, forward direction is the positive x-axis.
- Mobile manipulation is performed in the XY plane.
- The origin of a robot should be defined so that its base perfectly rests on a floor at z=0, and its rotation around the z-axis is the center of rotation when the base makes a natural in-place turn.
- All objects/robots of human-environment scale should be specified in meters. There are many default thresholds and parameters that assume this convention, and not following it will result in explosion of computation. A more general convention is that the unit should be chosen so that the arm length of the robot is closest to 1.
- Every link/manipulator/sensor/joint in a robot/kinbody should have a name that will differentiate it from the others.
- The initial configuration of the robot when first loaded in the scene cannot be in self-collision.
Environment Conventions¶
- Every body added to the environment should have a unique name.
Questions/Feedback
Having problems with OpenRAVE?
- Search for information in the archives of the openrave-users mailing list, or post a question.
- If you notice errors , please open a ticket and let us know!