Import your own SolidWorks robot models into the simulator

With the help of a generous grant from SolidWorks, this past summer a WPI student was able to develop a plugin to export your robot models to a Gazebo compatible format. From there you can import the model into the simulator and run your WPILib C++ and Java code to operate the robot in simulation. The code you write for simulation is mostly identical to the code that you would write for the real robot, giving you a chance to test it before you have real hardware.

In addition, you can annotate the model with the motors and sensors that will be on the real robot including the port numbers and sensor types. With that information, the simulation should be very realistic and you’ll easily be able to retrieve sensor values as you robot moves around on the field to test the program logic.

There are two new sets of videos posted in the videos section that discusses how to export the models and then simulate them. In addition, there is a 2016 full field model including defenses available for teams to help them test their robot designs.