scripts: add URDF extraction tool for TrossenMCAP recordings

[abhichothani42]

Summary

Small CLI tool that pulls the URDF out of a recording into a .urdf file next to it, for use with Rerun or as the File source of a Foxglove URDF layer.

Changes

• Add scripts/visualize_robot_description/visualize_robot_description.cpp: reads the /robot_description topic from an MCAP file and writes <episode>_robot_description.urdf alongside it.
• Register the executable in scripts/CMakeLists.txt.

Test Plan

• Builds cleanly (make build)
• Tests pass (make test)
• Lint passes (pre-commit run --all-files)
• Tested on hardware (if applicable)

Breaking Changes

None.

Related Issues

None.

[abhichothani42]

Warning

This pull request is not mergeable via GitHub because a downstack PR is open. Once all requirements are satisfied, merge this PR as a stack on Graphite.
Learn more

• scripts: add Foxglove user scripts for robot and EEF visualization #277
• scripts: add URDF extraction tool for TrossenMCAP recordings #276 👈 (View in Graphite)
• examples: enable robot description recording in solo demo #275
• backend: write robot description to TrossenMCAP files #274
• config: add robot description options to TrossenMCAP backend #273
• utils: add RobotDescriptionCache for URDF download and mesh embedding #272
• examples: update sanity check for end-effector pose #270
• arm: emit end-effector pose from TrossenArmProducer #269
• backend: add end-effector pose write support to TrossenMCAP #268
• arm: add EndEffectorPoseRecord and proto schema #267
• examples: add trossen_vr_mobile demo #266
• examples: add trossen_vr_stationary demo #265
• examples: add trossen_vr_solo demo #264
• vr: add VrSessionControlComponent button-to-session bridge #263
• vr: add VrBaseComponent base-velocity teleop leader #262
• vr: add VrArmComponent cartesian teleop leader #261
• vr: add shared VrSession connection owner #260
• feat: post_event/attach_control queue for thread-safe session control #271
• session-control: add SessionControlCapable interface #259
• hw: make SlateBaseComponent a base-velocity teleop follower #258
• teleop: add base-velocity (Base) space to teleop interface #257
• main

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[Copilot]

Pull request overview

Adds a small offline script executable to extract the recorded robot URDF from TrossenMCAP episodes, enabling quick visualization in tools like Rerun/Foxglove without needing the full runtime stack.

Changes:

• Add visualize_robot_description CLI that reads /robot_description from an MCAP file and writes a sibling *_robot_description.urdf.
• Register/build the new executable from scripts/CMakeLists.txt.

Reviewed changes

Copilot reviewed 2 out of 2 changed files in this pull request and generated 3 comments.

File	Description
scripts/visualize_robot_description/visualize_robot_description.cpp	New CLI implementation for extracting the URDF from /robot_description and writing it to disk.
scripts/CMakeLists.txt	Adds the new script executable target, include paths, compile definition, and link libs.

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