def getAxis(node):
    """Parse rotation axis of a joint."""
    axis = [0.0, 0.0, 0.0]
    axisElement = node.getElementsByTagName('axis')[0].getAttribute('xyz').split()
    axis[0] = float(axisElement[0])
    axis[1] = float(axisElement[1])
    axis[2] = float(axisElement[2])
    return axis