diff --git a/r2r_common/Cargo.toml b/r2r_common/Cargo.toml
index bd31d96..c2743c9 100644
--- a/r2r_common/Cargo.toml
+++ b/r2r_common/Cargo.toml
@@ -15,6 +15,7 @@ bindgen = "0.63.0"
 itertools = "0.10.5"
 sha2 = "0.10.6"
 os_str_bytes = "6.5.1"
+regex = "1.8.4"
 
 [features]
 doc-only = []
diff --git a/r2r_common/src/lib.rs b/r2r_common/src/lib.rs
index 40f25d4..279508d 100644
--- a/r2r_common/src/lib.rs
+++ b/r2r_common/src/lib.rs
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@ use std::env;
 use std::fs::{self, File};
 use std::io::Read;
 use std::path::Path;
+use regex::*;
 
 #[cfg(not(feature = "doc-only"))]
 const SUPPORTED_ROS_DISTROS: &[&str] = &["foxy", "galactic", "humble", "rolling"];
@@ -376,6 +377,18 @@ pub fn as_map(included_msgs: &[RosMsg]) -> HashMap<&str, HashMap<&str, Vec<&str>
     msgs
 }
 
+/// camel case to to snake case adapted from from ros_idl_cmake
+/// note that this is not a general camel to snake converter.
+pub fn camel_to_snake(s: &str) -> String {
+    let re1 = Regex::new(r"(.)([A-Z][a-z]+)").unwrap();
+    let re2 = Regex::new(r"([a-z0-9])([A-Z])").unwrap();
+
+    let s = re1.replace_all(s, "${1}_${2}");
+    let s = re2.replace_all(&s, "${1}_${2}");
+
+    s.to_lowercase()
+}
+
 #[cfg(test)]
 mod tests {
     use super::*;
@@ -411,4 +424,11 @@ std_msgs/msg/String
         assert_eq!(map.get("std_msgs").unwrap().get("msg").unwrap()[0], "Bool");
         assert_eq!(map.get("std_msgs").unwrap().get("msg").unwrap()[1], "String");
     }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn test_snake_case() {
+        assert_eq!(camel_to_snake("AB01CD02"), "ab01_cd02");
+        assert_eq!(camel_to_snake("UnboundedSequences"), "unbounded_sequences");
+        assert_eq!(camel_to_snake("WStrings"), "w_strings");
+    }
 }
diff --git a/r2r_msg_gen/Cargo.toml b/r2r_msg_gen/Cargo.toml
index 70372c2..bf9e849 100644
--- a/r2r_msg_gen/Cargo.toml
+++ b/r2r_msg_gen/Cargo.toml
@@ -24,7 +24,6 @@ rayon = "1.7.0"
 bindgen = "0.63.0"
 r2r_rcl = { path = "../r2r_rcl", version = "0.3.8" }
 r2r_common = { path = "../r2r_common", version = "0.3.7" }
-heck = "0.4.0"
 quote = "1.0.28"
 syn = { version = "2.0.18", features = ["full"] }
 rayon = "1.7.0"
diff --git a/r2r_msg_gen/build.rs b/r2r_msg_gen/build.rs
index 5301bc9..31ac0f4 100644
--- a/r2r_msg_gen/build.rs
+++ b/r2r_msg_gen/build.rs
@@ -1,12 +1,11 @@
 use bindgen::Bindings;
-use heck::ToSnakeCase;
 use itertools::chain;
 use itertools::iproduct;
 use itertools::Either;
 use itertools::Itertools;
 use quote::format_ident;
 use quote::quote;
-use r2r_common::RosMsg;
+use r2r_common::{RosMsg, camel_to_snake};
 use rayon::prelude::*;
 use std::fs::File;
 use std::fs::OpenOptions;
@@ -118,7 +117,7 @@ fn generate_includes(bindgen_dir: &Path, msg_list: &[RosMsg]) {
             } = msg;
 
             // filename is certainly CamelCase -> snake_case. convert
-            let include_filename = name.to_snake_case();
+            let include_filename = camel_to_snake(&name);
 
             [
                 format!("#include <{module}/{prefix}/{include_filename}.h>"),