Suppressed parts in Onshape version are not ignored by onshape-to-robot command

[maxwellkm]

TL;DR: Expected behavior is that suppressed parts in Onshape should not be encountered by onshape-to-robot

Vendors will often only provide surface models for components, rather than a solid model, in an effort to protect IP. We have no option but to use these models in our CAD for certain components. It seems onshape-to-robot has difficulty and will fail to execute when it encounters such models, which may have varying degrees of "validity" (e.g., non-watertight, discontinuous, etc)

As a user, I'd expect that simply suppressing these problem surface models in the assembly prior to creating a version for URDF export should be enough to keep them away from onshape-to-robot. In practice, the function still attempts to load these models, and ultimately fails, preventing the rest of the URDF from being generated.

My only workaround for this has been to create a new branch of the assembly, in which I explicitly delete all surface models (and traces of them) from the assembly, and then export the URDF from there. This has several obvious issues: 1) these are important components and really do belong in the assembly; 2) it may not always be possible to delete these models if they are critical for mates involved in certain joints; 3) it's an overall clunky and human error prone workflow.

[Gregwar]

Hello, suppressed items should indeed not be loaded.
Can you make the smallest possible example reproducing the problem and share the output and the Onshape document ?

[maxwellkm]

Hi Gregwar,

Thanks for getting back to me! I made a quick example reproducing the problem by showing three versions with unsuppressed/suppressed/deleted states, respectively. Quick descriptive context:

-Belt Linear Stage HRC Assembly is an assembly included in subassembly, and Belt Linear Stage HRC Assembly is the only aspect that changes state between the three versions.
-A slider joint is defined between subassembly and 7917N22_High-Cycle Low-Profile Ball Bearing Carriage in main_assembly.

The only version which outputs a URDF is the one in which Belt Linear Stage HRC Assembly is completely deleted from the document. Suppressing it does not seem to function properly.

Unsuppressed: https://cad.onshape.com/documents/79f9cef2a762738541f04969/v/f2a80da0e483dfbc26340bfb/e/a0617a7c4c7659ba84a086e9
Suppressed: https://cad.onshape.com/documents/79f9cef2a762738541f04969/v/f2efb59723ff2e9588be1076/e/a0617a7c4c7659ba84a086e9
Deleted: https://cad.onshape.com/documents/79f9cef2a762738541f04969/v/d63292a537b17ea5ad5e1b29/e/a0617a7c4c7659ba84a086e9

[Niklas-Mulsow]

Hello, I got the same problem like Maxwell, is there any solution in the pipeline?

Best
Niklas