Simulation Description Format (SDFormat)

The XML format used by Gazebo that can describe a robot and an entire simulated world.

SDFormat is an XML-based description format, originally designed for the Gazebo simulator and now maintained by Open Robotics. Unlike URDF (the Unified Robot Description Format), which describes only a single robot, SDFormat can describe an entire “world” in one file: multiple models, lights, the ground plane, sensors, and physics parameters, and it also supports closed kinematic chains, which URDF can only represent as a tree. It's commonly used to write scenes for Gazebo simulation; a common workflow is to start from a URDF and automatically convert it to SDF for loading. Note that this SDF is unrelated to the “signed distance field,” which uses the same abbreviation.

ExampleBuild a warehouse scene in Gazebo: use a single .sdf file to place shelving, the floor, light sources, and a mobile robot fitted with a lidar.

Also called

SDF, SDFormat

Related

Unified Robot Description Format · Gazebo · MJCF (MuJoCo XML Format) · Universal Scene Description (OpenUSD) · Xacro (XML Macros)

Sources

SDFormat 官网 (Chinese)