Boundingbox on Link API

[jfelixre]

There is an alternative of Gazebo-classic's Link API Boundingbox function for ignition?

API reference page still shows a "TODO"

thanks!

[azeey]

We already have the ability to get the bounding box, but it's through a component. Documenting this would be a good step as well.

[gabrielfpacheco]

We already have the ability to get the bounding box, but it's through a component. Documenting this would be a good step as well.

@azeey, isn't that only available to get the model bounding box, since the Physics plugin set it here?

I couldn’t find any source that actually sets a gz::components::AxisAligned for a link entity. Therefore, as I had to get the bounding box of the link for a system plugin I developed, I created #2787 and gazebosim/sdformat#1547 to provide such an API.

Please let me know if I'm missing something, I hope this could be helpful to others.

[iche033]

I think the alternative approach would be to update the the physics system populate the bounding box component for links as well? I see the API available in gz-physics, GetLinkBoundingBox

[gabrielfpacheco]

I think the alternative approach would be to update the the physics system populate the bounding box component for links as well

Yes, I think this would probably be more straightforward. If I understood it correctly, this feature should be available for all currently supported physics engines, right?

I initially thought not to update the physics plugin because I did not want to add extra load to a critical plugin if this was not an actual requirement. However, I believe we could do the same as for the model and only update the link entities containing the corresponding components.

Maybe I could update #2787 to add this feature to the physics system and update the link API so that it only computes from the SDF if an AxisAlignedBox component does not exist for the link entity. Or I could completely remove the calculation via SDF if you think it is more adequate.

Please, let me know what would be the best path forward.