diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index e4f36c4327fe5cd2fdceb64a18ec8ad7d57b570f..d3796cb567ad67ed47cc292e6b01de53fb1a6b5a 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -4,12 +4,26 @@ INCLUDE(cmake/base.cmake)
 INCLUDE(cmake/test.cmake)
 INCLUDE(cmake/python.cmake)
 
+# Set up project properties
 SET(PROJECT_NAMESPACE gepetto)
 SET(PROJECT_NAME example-robot-data)
 SET(PROJECT_DESCRIPTION "Set of robot URDFs for benchmarking and developed examples.")
-
 SET(PROJECT_URL https://gepgitlab.laas.fr/${PROJECT_NAMESPACE}/${PROJECT_NAME})
 
+# Print initial message
+MESSAGE("${PROJECT_DESCRIPTION}, version ${PROJECT_VERSION}")
+MESSAGE("Copyright (C) 2018-2019 CNRS-LAAS")
+MESSAGE("All rights reserved.")
+MESSAGE("Released under the BSD 3-Clause License.")
+
+# Set a default build type to 'Release' if none was specified
+IF(NOT CMAKE_BUILD_TYPE AND NOT CMAKE_CONFIGURATION_TYPES)
+  MESSAGE(STATUS "Setting build type to 'Release' as none was specified.")
+  SET(CMAKE_BUILD_TYPE Release CACHE STRING "Choose the type of build." FORCE)
+  # Set the possible values of build type for cmake-gui
+  SET_PROPERTY(CACHE CMAKE_BUILD_TYPE PROPERTY STRINGS "Debug" "Release" "MinSizeRel" "RelWithDebInfo")
+ENDIF()
+
 SETUP_PROJECT()
 
 ADD_REQUIRED_DEPENDENCY("pinocchio >= 2.1.0")
diff --git a/python/robots_loader.py b/python/robots_loader.py
index da229de24876c9413558034311cdac3decf5353a..b75916144df253e625c04d8a91a357063806d7e2 100644
--- a/python/robots_loader.py
+++ b/python/robots_loader.py
@@ -1,12 +1,15 @@
 from os.path import exists, join
 
+import sys
 import numpy as np
 import pinocchio
 from pinocchio.robot_wrapper import RobotWrapper
 
 
 def getModelPath(subpath):
-    for path in ['..', '../..', '/opt/openrobots/share/example-robot-data']:
+    base = '../../../share/example-robot-data'
+    for p in sys.path:
+        path = join(p, base.strip('/'))
         if exists(join(path, subpath.strip('/'))):
             print("using %s as modelPath" % path)
             return path