From Erwin.
RAIFATAL_IF(!api_->getLinkState(objectId_, linkId, &linkState), "getBasePositionAndOrientation failed");
This is a very expensive method and I will remove it from the API: it will compute forward kinematics >and also propagate velocities. Best to not use this, since 'stepSimulation' already does it. The other >getLinkState has an explicit parameter to not compute those things again and again.
From Erwin.