diff --git a/collada_urdf/CMakeLists.txt b/collada_urdf/CMakeLists.txt
index c7daaff..3ed033c 100644
--- a/collada_urdf/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/collada_urdf/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@ rosbuild_add_library(collada_urdf src/collada_urdf.cpp)
 rosbuild_link_boost(collada_urdf system)
 
 rosbuild_add_executable(urdf_to_collada src/urdf_to_collada.cpp)
-target_link_libraries(urdf_to_collada collada_urdf)
+target_link_libraries(urdf_to_collada collada_urdf assimp)
 
 rosbuild_add_gtest(test_collada_writer test/test_collada_urdf.cpp)
-target_link_libraries(test_collada_writer collada_urdf)
+target_link_libraries(test_collada_writer collada_urdf assimp)
diff --git a/collada_urdf/manifest.xml b/collada_urdf/manifest.xml
index 502f9d7..9d84c64 100644
--- a/collada_urdf/manifest.xml
+++ b/collada_urdf/manifest.xml
@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@
   <depend package="colladadom" />
   <depend package="resource_retriever" />
   <depend package="angles" />
-  <depend package="assimp"/>
+  <rosdep name="assimp"/>
   <platform os="ubuntu" version="9.04"/>
   <platform os="ubuntu" version="9.10"/>
   <platform os="ubuntu" version="10.04"/>
diff --git a/rosdep.yaml b/rosdep.yaml
index 2d78050..f815a07 100644
--- a/rosdep.yaml
+++ b/rosdep.yaml
@@ -2,3 +2,10 @@ pcre:
   ubuntu: libpcre3-dev
   fedora: pcre-devel
   debian: libpcre3-dev
+assimp:
+ ubuntu: |
+  if [ ! -f /etc/apt/sources.list.d/openrave-release*.list ] ; then
+    sudo add-apt-repository ppa:openrave/release
+    sudo apt-get update
+  fi
+  sudo apt-get install assimp-bin assimp-dev