The latest build of ARMOR (v0.11) is now live on TestFlight, and it makes your robot models truly portable. Building on the GLB import support added in the previous release, this update introduces universal 3D export, take any model you have loaded or built in ARMOR and send it out as USDZ, GLB, glTF, DAE (Collada), OBJ, or STL, ready for Blender, the web, or a desktop robotics simulator.
On-device Conversion of Your URDF Model
The headline feature of v0.11 is a single export menu that converts your robot into whichever 3D format your destination needs:
- USDZ — Apple’s native AR format, ideal for RealityKit, Reality Composer, and Quick Look.
- GLB / glTF — the standard for the web (Three.js, model-viewer) and Android (Filament, SceneView), with embedded materials and textures.
- DAE (Collada) — carries materials and color, the preferred mesh format for ROS / RViz and Gazebo.
- OBJ — the universal interchange format, widely supported including by MuJoCo.
- STL — geometry-only, the lowest common denominator for 3D printing and legacy pipelines.
Under the hood, this is powered by the open-source GLTFKit2 and my own RealityKitFormats package, wrapping Apple’s ModelIO and RealityKit so that a model loaded from any supported format can be re-encoded into any other.
Automatic Asset Management for URDF and MJCF
Exporting a single mesh is useful, but the real power is exporting a complete robot. When you export a URDF Package, ARMOR bundles the description file in URDF format, the converted description file in MJCF (MuJoCo) format, and all of its mesh assets. The entire archive contained in a single ZIP file, and its meshes are converted into the format your target tool expects.
- URDF with meshes converted to OBJ, DAE, GLB, or STL
- MJCF with meshes converted to OBJ or STL (the formats MuJoCo supports).
From iPhone to Blender, the Web, and Desktop Simulators
A robot model authored on your iPhone with ARMOR can flow straight into the desktop visualization or simulation tool of your choice:
- Blender — import GLB or USDZ for rendering, animation, or cleanup.
- Web — drop a GLB into Three.js or
<model-viewer>. - MuJoCo — export an MJCF archive with OBJ meshes for high-fidelity simulation.
- ROS / Gazebo — export a URDF archive with DAE meshes to preserve materials.
- NVIDIA Isaac Sim or Drake — export OBJ or glTF for their importers.
For the full breakdown of which format each tool prefers, see the new Exporting URDF & MJCF Archives page in the ARMOR documentation.
Bridging the Mobile-Desktop Gap
ARMOR started as a way to view and simulate URDF robots on iOS. With universal export in v0.11, it becomes a genuine onramp to the wider robotics and 3D ecosystem: sketch and validate a model on your phone, then hand it off to MuJoCo, ROS, Gazebo, Drake, Isaac Sim, or Blender on the desktop without a manual file-conversion detour.
Try it Out
ARMOR v0.11 is available now, join the TestFlight beta, and let me know how the export workflow fits into your pipeline. I would love to hear which formats and tools you are targeting.