petercorke / petercorke/robotics-toolbox-python
Link.__deepcopy__ silently drops collision geometry (coal pickling limitation)
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Description
Migrated from tech-debt.md (deleted, see repo history via git log -- tech-debt.md).
Link.__deepcopy__ silently drops coal CollisionObject instances because the coal library doesn't support pickling. The current workaround warns at runtime when shapes are lost.
Root cause: a fresh DHLink can reach the coal objects of an unrelated URDF robot through shared class-level state in Link or Robot (exact attribute TBD). This means:
- Copied DH links that happen to run after URDF robot tests lose nothing (DH links have no collision shapes), so the warning path is never exercised in isolation.
- If the shared reference is ever followed for other purposes (iteration, serialisation) it could cause similar failures or unexpected aliasing.
Proper fix: obtain the full deepcopy traceback with --tb=long when running test_ERobot.py followed by test_Link.py::TestDHLink::test_copy, trace which attribute chain connects the fresh DHLink to a coal object, and remove or weak-ref that shared state.
Contributor guide
First steps
- Read the whole issue, then the project's contributing guide.
- Comment on the issue to say you are picking it up — it saves two people doing the same work.
- Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
- Open a pull request that references the issue number.
Research direction
Run test_ERobot.py followed by test_Link.py::TestDHLink::test_copy with --tb=long. Trace the attribute chain from the fresh DHLink to the coal CollisionObject through Link or Robot shared state. Done means the unintended shared reference is removed or weak-referenced and the targeted copy test exercises the warning path without losing unrelated geometry.
Written by the indexing model from the issue text.
Assessment
- Tech stack
- python
- Domain
- robotics
- Issue type
- Bug
- Difficulty
- 4/5
- Estimated time
- 3-5 days
- Activity status
- Quiet
- Clarity
- Mostly clear
- Newbie friendliness
- 48/100