Friction not working working In Gazebo Ignition

[Rob505176]

Hi All.

I’m currently making a simple rover robot in URDF. I’ve simulated it in Gazebo Classic with friction and all works as expected. Moving over to Gazebo Ignition (Fortress), I’ve got the model loading and driving around, however the friction tags no longer work. I’ve also noticed that the tags no longer work.

I’ve tried changing the friction in other popular robots (Turtlebot 4) but this does not change. Is friction not a thing in Ignition? Does anyone know what might be going on?

[girishkumar.kannan]

Hi @Rob505176 ,

Welcome to this Community!

Gazebo Ignition Fortress does not feature Friction. However you can add friction properties to the links through the collision tags.
Please refer SDF page for collision properties: SDFormat Specification

Friction tags WILL NOT be shown in Gazebo Ignition GUI (at least not in Fortress).

So friction for a joint will be typically defined in URDF as:

<gazebo reference="link_name">
    <visual>
        <material> <!-- Black -->
            <ambient>0.1 0.1 0.1 1.0</ambient>
            <diffuse>0.1 0.1 0.1 1.0</diffuse>
            <specular>0.0 0.0 0.0 1.0</specular>
            <emissive>0.0 0.0 0.0 1.0</emissive>
        </material>
    </visual>
    <collision>
        <surface>
            <friction>
                <ode>
                    <mu>0.5</mu> <!-- value range 0.0 to 1.0 -->
                    <mu2>0.5</mu2> <!-- value range 0.0 to 1.0 -->
                </ode>
            </friction>
        </surface>
    </collision>
</gazebo>

Regards,
Girish