Zacro

Fast Rust implementation of xacro (XML macro language) with enhanced features for modular robotics.

Overview

Zacro is a high-performance Rust implementation of the xacro XML macro language with enhanced features specifically designed for modular robotics applications. It provides:

• Complete macro expansion: Full support for xacro macro definitions and calls
• Formatted output: Optional XML formatting with proper indentation
• Modular robot support: Remove redundant first joints for modular robot assemblies
• High performance: Rust implementation for fast processing of large xacro files
• Python bindings: Easy-to-use Python API with both functional and class-based interfaces

Features

• ✅ Complete macro expansion
• ✅ Property definitions and substitution
• ✅ Mathematical expressions
• ✅ File inclusion with package resolution
• ✅ Formatted XML output
• ✅ Modular robot first joint removal
• ✅ Python bindings
• ✅ Class-based and functional APIs

Installation

pip install zacro

From Source

git clone https://github.com/iory/zacro
cd zacro
pip install maturin
maturin develop --features python

Quick Start

Basic Usage

import zacro

# Process xacro file to URDF
result = zacro.xacro_to_string("robot.xacro")

# Process with formatting
result = zacro.xacro_to_string("robot.xacro", format_output=True)

# Process from string
xml_string = """<?xml version="1.0"?>
<robot xmlns:xacro="http://ros.org/wiki/xacro">
  <xacro:macro name="box" params="name">
    <link name="${name}">
      <visual><geometry><box size="1 1 1"/></geometry></visual>
    </link>
  </xacro:macro>
  <xacro:box name="my_box"/>
</robot>"""

result = zacro.xacro_from_string(xml_string, format_output=True)

Modular Robot Support

For modular robot xacro files where each module has a connection joint to its parent:

# Remove redundant first joints in modular robot assemblies
result = zacro.xacro_to_string(
    "modular_robot.xacro",
    format_output=True,
    remove_first_joint=True
)

Class-based API

processor = zacro.XacroProcessor()
processor.set_format_output(True)
processor.set_remove_first_joint(True)

result = processor.process_file("robot.xacro")

Building

Prerequisites

• Rust 1.70+
• Python 3.8+ (for Python bindings)
• maturin (for Python bindings)

Build Rust Library

cargo build --release

Build Python Extension

maturin develop --features python

Run Tests

cargo test