Get Visual Model

SUMMARY

Get Visual Model returns the pinocchio.GeometryModel populated from the URDF's <visual> tags.

SUPPORTED ROBOTS

Available on all supported manipulators.

The Skill

visual_model = robot.get_visual_model()

The Code

"""
Read the Pinocchio visual geometry model for the Synapse SDK.

``get_visual_model`` returns the Python Pinocchio ``GeometryModel``
populated with the robot's visual geometries from the URDF. 

Universal Robots (UR10e) is used here purely for illustration. It supports all robots.

Usage:
    python get_visual_model.py
"""

from loguru import logger

from telekinesis.synapse.robots.manipulators import universal_robots


def main():
    """Read the Pinocchio visual geometry model and log a summary."""

    # Create the robot (no connect required — runs on the kinematic model)
    robot = universal_robots.UniversalRobotsUR10E()

    # Read the Pinocchio visual GeometryModel
    visual_model = robot.get_visual_model()
    
    logger.info(f"Number of visual geometries: {len(visual_model.geometryObjects)}")
    for geom in visual_model.geometryObjects:
        logger.info(f"  - {geom.name}")


if __name__ == "__main__":
    main()

The Explanation of the Code

from telekinesis.synapse.robots.manipulators import universal_robots

robot = universal_robots.UniversalRobotsUR10E()

Create the robot. UR10e is used here for illustration; the same pattern works for every supported brand. No connect() is required - runs against the kinematic model.

visual_model = robot.get_visual_model()

Return the pinocchio.GeometryModel built from the URDF's <visual> tags - the high-poly meshes intended for rendering. The model is built lazily on first access and cached on the robot.

for geom in visual_model.geometryObjects:
    logger.info(f"  - {geom.name}")

Iterate geometryObjects to enumerate each visual geometry. Hand the whole model to any Pinocchio-aware visualizer to render the robot.

Return Value

Type	Description
pinocchio.GeometryModel	Visual GeometryModel built from the URDF's <visual> declarations. Built lazily on first access and cached on the robot.

Where to Use the Skill

• Pinocchio-native visualizers - Hand the visual model to any visualizer that expects a GeometryModel.
• Custom rendering - Drive any renderer that consumes Pinocchio geometry objects.
• Companion to Get Model and Get Collision Model when a library expects the full (model, collision_model, visual_model) triple.

When Not to Use the Skill

• You use a raw-array visualizer - prefer Get Visual Meshes Data + Get Visual Mesh Transforms, which return NumPy arrays directly.
• You need collision geometries - call Get Collision Model instead.
• Pinocchio is not installed - the first call raises ImportError.