what is mechanicalReduction in transmission tag?
Greetings. I am a beginner to ROS, and I was learning how to programmatically describe robots via the .xacro files using the ROS-melodic distribution. I noticed the <mechanicalreduction>1</mechanicalreduction> tag in describing the transmission elements of a joint. Is it some sort of energy loss, while transmitting effort at a joint? Could someone please help me understand what exactly this is? I couldn't find any detailed explaination on wiki, and I am extremely sorry, if this is something very obvious to know prehand (I am an electrical engineering student).
I was also confused with the <type>transmission_interface/SimpleTransmission</type> line. A lot of people use this, and I simply do not understand what exactly the "SimpleTransmission" is. Is it to say that the joint only has a motor sort of a thing, as in no gear mechanisms, and a simple joint? What should I do if I need gear mechanisms? By the way, I am using Gazebo9 simulator for spawning my robot.
I would be grateful for any help/guidance/hints.
Thank you so much for your time.
