Changelog — what's new on RoboSim Tools
Every tool, article, and feature shipped on RoboSim Tools, newest first. Subscribe via RSS to know when a new converter or article goes live.
New tools, articles, and fixes land here as they ship — no marketing spin, just what changed. Subscribe via RSS or the newsletter to hear about new tools.
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2026-07-10
Shareable links, a README badge generator, and two cheat sheets
Every text-input tool (URDF validator, xacro/SDF/MJCF converters, 3D viewer) now has a "Share" button that encodes your input into the URL itself (via lz-string, bundled locally) — paste a link instead of a file, and it loads pre-filled. New /badge/ page generates shields.io-style README badges ("URDF validated", "SBOM verified", etc.) with Markdown/HTML snippets. Two new wiki cheat sheets: a complete URDF element/attribute reference, and a rotation-conventions table (xyzw vs wxyz, intrinsic vs extrinsic Euler, handedness) covering ROS, Eigen, SciPy, MuJoCo, and Unity.
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2026-07-10
ArduPilot Parameter File Diff shipped — the first UAV tool
Paste two .param files (from Mission Planner, QGroundControl, or a raw SITL export — all three real-world formats are parsed and auto-detected) and see exactly what changed, was added, or was removed, with each parameter annotated using ArduPilot's own official metadata (5,700+ parameters per vehicle, ArduCopter/Plane/Rover). The first tool in the UAV/drone track.
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2026-07-10
Work with me: services page replaces Pro, plus a security hardening pass
The Pro page is retired in favour of /services/ — the free tools are the self-serve version of work Rahul does professionally: CAD→simulation conversion, robotics and UAV (ArduPilot/PX4) simulation consulting, and CRA-readiness help, with a direct contact form. Also shipped: Content-Security-Policy and HSTS headers, rate limiting on the API endpoints, and a security.txt.
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2026-07-10
Three new tools: Mesh Inertia Calculator, Rotation Converter, DH → URDF
Mesh Inertia Calculator: upload an STL or OBJ and get mass, center of mass, and the full inertia tensor integrated from the geometry (verified against the analytic cube across binary STL, ASCII STL, and OBJ parser paths), plus a unit fixer for mm/cm-scaled meshes. Rotation Converter: quaternion (xyzw/wxyz) ↔ Euler (all 12 axis sequences, intrinsic/extrinsic) ↔ matrix ↔ axis-angle, with a live 3D gizmo — the Euler engine is a verified port of the same algorithm behind ROS's tf.transformations, round-trip tested across 4,800 random trials. DH → URDF: turns a Denavit-Hartenberg table (standard or modified/Craig convention) into a correct URDF joint chain — including the tool/flange offset that naive conversions drop — verified against the raw DH transform product and the textbook 2-link planar arm.
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2026-07-10
Load examples, copy, autosave, and tool chaining across every converter
Every tool now has a one-click example file, a copy-to-clipboard button, Ctrl+Enter to run, and auto-saves your input locally with a restore prompt on return. Successful conversions now offer "Open in →" buttons that carry the output straight into the next tool (xacro → validator → MJCF, SDF/STEP → validator/MJCF). Added an About page and this changelog.
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2026-07-10
Robotics Engineer Roadmap, and Robot Simulation 101 rewritten
Robot Simulation 101 now actually explains simulation — the physics loop, contact and friction solving, actuator modeling, sensor simulation, and the reality gap — instead of just comparing file formats. New: a Robotics Engineer Roadmap built from real July-2026 job postings (Boston Dynamics, Figure, NVIDIA, Amazon Robotics), with the five universal skills and four specialization tracks.
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2026-07-09
Wiki launched, plus bug reporting and SEO/GEO plumbing
Six reference articles: What is URDF?, What is Xacro?, URDF vs SDF vs MJCF vs USD, Inertia in Robot Simulation, and EU Cyber Resilience Act Explained. Added a bug-report form to every page footer, Open Graph/Twitter cards, Article structured data, and an llms.txt index for AI crawlers.
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2026-07-09
CRA Readiness Checker shipped
A scoping wizard for the EU Cyber Resilience Act (Regulation (EU) 2024/2847), built from the official regulation text — every branch cites its article. Outputs a downloadable scoping memo and obligations checklist.
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2026-07-09
SBOM Generator shipped
Converts package-lock.json, pinned requirements.txt, Cargo.lock, or go.sum into a CycloneDX 1.6 SBOM with package URLs — verified against the site's own 377-package lockfile.
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2026-07-09
STEP → URDF Converter shipped
CAD tessellation in-browser via OpenCascade WASM, with mass/center-of-mass/inertia tensor computed from the actual geometry — verified against the analytic solution for a solid cube.
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2026-07-09
SDF → URDF and URDF → MJCF converters shipped
SDF→URDF resolves Gazebo model-frame poses into correct joint origins (transform composition verified against an independent NumPy implementation). URDF→MJCF output is compile-verified against real MuJoCo 3.10.
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2026-07-09
RoboSim Tools launched: URDF Validator and Xacro → URDF Converter
The first two tools: a URDF structural/kinematic/inertia validator, and a client-side xacro expander (properties, macros, conditionals, includes) — no ROS install required for either.