I have been trying to simulate a 'non-standard' open-chain robotic manipulator in Gazebo. The problem is that Gazebo assumes a simple kinematic chain (link-joint-link-joint-..) but this manipulator does not comply with this assumption. Here is how:

Assume that we have this 2-link manipulator:

if the first joint was rotated 90 degrees, this is how it should look like:

However, our manipulator will look like this:

This is because the two motors are placed on the base, and motor 2 is connected to joint 2 through a belt, while motor 1 is connected directly to joint 1.

Deriving the kinematics and dynamics has been done, but I want to also simulate it in Gazebo.

Any suggestions?

Thanks in advance!