ARMOR’s external URDF loader gets its first real test, bringing OEM robot models with high-fidelity meshes onto iPhone, iPad, and Mac. The pipeline reads any URDF inside a directory, parses it for file dependencies, loads those meshes into SwiftData assets for persistence, then assembles the full model in the virtual view.
A key building block is a custom package bridging Apple’s ModelIO and RealityKit to convert STL files into 3D entities — released free and open source.
Key points
- Directory-aware URDF parsing and dependency resolution
- STL meshes converted to RealityKit entities
- Open-source ModelIO↔RealityKit conversion package
Details on supported files and folder imports are in Loading URDF Files.