Robotics simulator explained

A robotics simulator is a simulator used to create an application for a physical robot without depending on the physical machine, thus saving cost and time. In some case, such applications can be transferred onto a physical robot (or rebuilt) without modification.

The term robotics simulator can refer to several different robotics simulation applications. For example, in mobile robotics applications, behavior-based robotics simulators allow users to create simple worlds of rigid objects and light sources and to program robots to interact with these worlds. Behavior-based simulation allows for actions that are more biotic in nature when compared to simulators that are more binary, or computational. Also, behavior-based simulators may learn from mistakes and can demonstrate the anthropomorphic quality of tenacity.

One of the most popular applications for robotics simulators is for 3D modeling and rendering of a robot and its environment. This type of robotics software has a simulator that is a virtual robot, which can emulate the motion of a physical robot in a real work envelope. Some robotics simulators use a physics engine for more realistic motion generation of the robot. The use of a robotics simulator to develop a robotics control program is highly recommended regardless of whether a physical robot is available or not. The simulator allows for robotics programs to be conveniently written and debugged off-line with the final version of the program tested on a physical robot. This applies mainly to industrial robotic applications, since the success of off-line programming depends on how similar the physical environment of a robot is to a simulated environment.

Sensor-based robot actions are much more difficult to simulate and/or to program off-line, since the robot motion depends on instantaneous sensor readings in the real world.

Features

Modern simulators tend to provide the following features:

• Fast robot prototyping:
  • Using the own simulator as creation tool
  • Using external tools
• Physics engines for realistic movements: Most simulators use Bullet, ODE or PhysX.
• Realistic 3d rendering: Standard 3d modeling tools or third-party tools can be used to build the environments.
• Dynamic robot bodies with scripting: C, C++, Perl, Python, Java, URBI, and MATLAB languages used by Webots; C++ used by Gazebo.

Simulators

Among the newest technologies available today for programming are those which use a virtual simulation. Simulations with the use of virtual models of the working environment and the robots themselves can offer advantages to both the company and programmer. By using a simulation, costs are reduced, and robots can be programmed off-line which eliminates any down-time for an assembly line. Robot actions and assembly parts can be visualized in a three-dimensional virtual environment months before prototypes are even produced. Writing code for a simulation is also easier than writing code for a physical robot. While the move toward virtual simulations for programming robots is a step forward in user interface design, many such applications are only in their infancy.

General information

Software	Developers	Development status	License	3D rendering engine	Physics engine	3D modeller	Platforms supported
class="table-rh"	Gazebo	Open Source Robotics Foundation (OSRF)	Active		OGRE	ODE, Bullet, Simbody, DART	Internal	Linux, macOS, Windows
class="table-rh"	RoboDK	RoboDK	Active		OpenGL	Gravity plug-in	Internal	Linux, macOS, Windows, Android, iOS, Debian
	SimSpark	O. Obst et al. (+26)	Active	GNU GPL (v2)	Internal	ODE	None	Linux, macOS, Windows
class="table-rh"	Webots	Cyberbotics Ltd.	Active		Internal (WREN)	Fork of ODE	Internal	Linux, macOS, Windows
class="table-rh"	OpenRAVE	OpenRAVE Community	Active	GNU LGPL	Coin3D, OpenSceneGraph	ODE, Bullet	Internal	Linux, macOS, Windows
class="table-rh"	CoppeliaSim	Coppelia Robotics	Active	Dual: commercial, GNU GPL	Internal	MuJoCo, Bullet, ODE, Vortex, Newton	Internal	Linux, macOS, Windows
Software	Developers	Development status	License	3D rendering engine	Physics engine	3D modeller	Platforms supported

Technical information

Software	Main programming language	Formats support	Extensibility	External APIs	Robotics middleware support	Primary user interface	Headless simulation
	Gazebo	C++	SDF^[1] /URDF,^[2] OBJ, STL, COLLADA	Plug-ins (C++)	C++	ROS, Player, sockets (protobuf messages)	GUI
	RoboDK	Python	SLDPRT, SLDASM, STEP, OBJ, STL, 3DS, COLLADA, VRML, Robot Operating System URDF, Rhinoceros 3D, ...	API,^[3] Plug-In Interface^[4]	Python, C/C++, C#, Matlab, ...	Socket	GUI
	SimSpark	C++, Ruby	Ruby Scene Graphs	Mods (C++)	Network (sexpr)	Sockets (sexpr)	GUI, sockets
class="table-rh"	Webots	C++	WBT, VRML, X3D, 3DS, Blender, BVH, COLLADA, FBX, STL, OBJ, URDF	API, PROTOs, plug-ins (C/C++)	C, C++, Python, Java, Matlab, ROS	Sockets, ROS, NaoQI	GUI	^[5]
	OpenRAVE	C++, Python	XML, VRML, OBJ, COLLADA	Plug-ins (C++), API	C/C++, Python, Matlab	Sockets, ROS, YARP	GUI, sockets
class="table-rh"	CoppeliaSim	C++, Python, Lua	3DS, Blender, COLLADA, STL, OBJ, URDF, SDF, GLTF, XML	Plug-ins (C/C++), embedded scripts (Python, Lua), remote API (C, C++, Python, Java, MATLAB, Octave), add-ons (Python, Lua)	C, C++, Python, Java, MATLAB, Octave, ROS, ROS 2.0	Sockets, ROS, ROS 2.0, ZeroMQ	GUI
Software	Main programming language	Formats support	Extensibility	External APIs	Robotic middleware support	Primary user interface	Headless simulation

Infrastructure

Support

Software	Mailing list	API documentation	Public forum, help system	User manual	Issue tracker	Wiki	Chat
	Gazebo	^[6]	^[7]	^[8]	^[9]	^[10]
	RoboDK	^[11]	^[12]	^[13]	^[14]	^[15]
	SimSpark	^[16]	^[17]		^[18]	^[19]	^[20]
	Webots		^[21]	^[22]	^[23]	^[24]	^[25]	^[26]
	OpenRAVE	^[27]	^[28]	^[29]	^[30]		^[31]
	CoppeliaSim		^[32]	^[33]	^[34]	^[35]
Software	Mailing list	API documentation	Public forum, help system	User manual	Issue tracker	Wiki

Code quality

Software	Static code checker	Style checker	Test system(s)	Test function coverage	Test branch coverage	Lines of code	Lines of comments	Continuous integration
	Gazebo	cppcheck^[36]	cpplint	gtest and qtest	77.0%	53.3%	320k	106k	Jenkins
	RoboDK
	SimSpark
	Webots	cppcheck^[37]	clang-format^[38]	unit tests^[39]	100% of API functions^[40]	master,^[41] develop^[42]	~200k	~50k	GitHub Actions
	OpenRAVE			Python nose					Jenkins^[43]
	CoppeliaSim
Software	Static code checker	Style checker	Test system(s)	Test function coverage	Test branch coverage	Lines of code	Lines of comments	Continuous integration

Features

Software	CAD to motion	Dynamic collision avoidance	Relative end effectors	Off-line programming	Real-time streaming control of hardware
	Gazebo
class="table-rh"	RoboDK
	SimSpark
	Webots
	OpenRAVE
	CoppeliaSim
Software	CAD to motion	Dynamic collision avoidance	Relative end effectors	Off-line programming	Real-time streaming control

Robot families

Software	UGV (ground mobile robot)	UAV (aerial robots)	AUV (underwater robots)	Robotic arms	Robotic hands (grasping simulation)	Humanoid robots	Human avatars	Full list
	Gazebo	^[44]	^[45]	^[46]	^[47]	^[48]	^[49]	^[50]
	RoboDK				^[51]
	SimSpark
	Webots			^[52]			^[53]		^[54]
	OpenRAVE
	CoppeliaSim								^[55]
Software	UGV (ground mobile robot)	UAV (aerial robots)	AUV (underwater robots)	Robotic arms	Robotic hands (grasping simulation)	Humanoid robots	Human avatars	Full list

Supported actuators

Software	Generic kinematic chains	Force-controlled motion	Full list	Circular kinematic chains	Kinematically redundant chains	Bifurcated kinematic chains
	Gazebo
	RoboDK
	SimSpark			SimSpark effectors
	Webots			Webots actuators
	OpenRAVE			Joints,Extra Actuators	^[56]		^[57]
	CoppeliaSim
Software	Generic kinematic chains	Force-controlled motion	Full list	Circular kinematic chains	Kinematically redundant chains	Bifurcated kinematic chains

Supported sensors

Software	Odometry	IMU	Collision	GPS	Monocular cameras	Stereo cameras	Depth cameras	Omnidirectional cameras	2D laser scanners	3D laser scanners	Full list
	Gazebo			^[58]		^[59]				^[60]
	RoboDK
	SimSpark			^[61]	^[62]							SimSpark perceptors
	Webots											Webots sensors
	OpenRAVE
	CoppeliaSim
Software	Odometry	IMU	Collision	GPS	Monocular cameras	Stereo cameras	Depth cameras	Omnidirectional cameras	2D laser scanners	3D laser scanners	Full list

Notes and References

1. Web site: SDF. 2019-04-27. sdformat.org. OSRF.
2. Web site: urdf - ROS Wiki. 2017-10-06. wiki.ros.org.
3. Web site: RoboDK API. . 22 October 2021.
4. Web site: RoboDK Plug-In Interface. . 16 October 2021.
5. However, requires a connection on an X server for 3D rendering
6. Web site: Gazebo Community. 2019-04-27. en.
7. Web site: Gazebo API. 2019-04-27. Gazebo Community. en.
8. Web site: Gazebo Answers. 2019-04-27. Gazebo Community. en.
9. Web site: Gazebo Tutorials. 2019-04-27. Gazebo Community. en.
10. Web site: Gazebo Issue Tracker. 2019-04-27. Gazebo Community. en.
11. https://robodk.com/subscribe RoboDK mailing list
12. https://robodk.com/doc/en/PythonAPI/intro.html RoboDK API Documentation
13. http://robodk.com/forum/ RoboDK Forum
14. https://robodk.com/doc/en/ RoboDK Documentation
15. http://robodk.com/forum/Forum-RoboDK-bugs RoboDK Bug tracker
16. http://sourceforge.net/p/simspark/mailman/ SimSpark mailing lists
17. Web site: SimSpark client protocols . 2015-04-08 . 2016-02-25 . https://web.archive.org/web/20160225172352/http://simspark.sourceforge.net/wiki/index.php/Network_Protocol . dead .
18. Web site: SimSpark user manual (Wiki) . 2015-04-08 . 2015-02-25 . https://web.archive.org/web/20150225121132/http://simspark.sourceforge.net/wiki/index.php/Users_Manual . dead .
19. http://sourceforge.net/p/simspark/bugs/ SimSpark Tracker
20. http://simspark.sourceforge.net/wiki/ SimSpark Wiki
21. https://cyberbotics.com/reference Webots Reference Manual
22. Web site: Discussions · cyberbotics/Webots . .
23. https://cyberbotics.com/guide Webots User Guide
24. https://github.com/omichel/webots/issues Webots issues on GitHub
25. https://github.com/omichel/webots/wiki Webots technical wiki on GitHub
26. https://discordapp.com/invite/nTWbN9m Webots Discord channel
27. https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/openrave-users OpenRAVE mailing list
28. http://openrave.org/docs/latest_stable/coreapihtml/index.html OpenRAVE API
29. https://github.com/rdiankov/openrave/issues OpenRAVE Issue Tracker
30. http://www.openrave.org/docs/latest_stable/ OpenRAVE User Guide
31. http://openrave.programmingvision.com/wiki/index.php/Main_Page OpenRAVE Wiki
32. https://www.coppeliarobotics.com/helpFiles/en/apiOverview.htm CoppeliaSim API
33. https://forum.coppeliarobotics.com Coppelia Robotics Forum
34. https://coppeliarobotics.com/helpFiles/ CoppeliaSim User Manual
35. https://forum.coppeliarobotics.com/viewforum.php?f=5 Coppelia Robotics bug reports
36. Web site: Gazebo. 2019-04-27. gazebosim.org. OSRF.
37. https://github.com/omichel/webots/blob/develop/tests/sources/test_cppcheck.py CppCheck
38. https://github.com/omichel/webots/blob/develop/tests/sources/test_clang_format.py Clang Format
39. https://github.com/omichel/webots/tree/develop/tests Unit tests
40. https://github.com/omichel/webots/tree/develop/tests/api API tests
41. https://github.com/omichel/webots/tree/master Webots master
42. https://github.com/omichel/webots/tree/develop Webots develop
43. http://openrave.org/docs/latest_stable/devel/testing/ Source
44. Web site: Gazebo : Tutorial : Beginner: Model Editor. 2019-04-27. gazebosim.org. OSRF.
45. Web site: Gazebo : Tutorial : Aerodynamics. 2019-04-27. gazebosim.org. OSRF.
46. Web site: Gazebo : Tutorial : Hydrodynamics. 2019-04-27. gazebosim.org. OSRF.
47. Web site: Gazebo : ARIAC. 2019-04-27. gazebosim.org. OSRF.
48. Web site: Gazebo : HAPTIX. 2019-04-27. gazebosim.org. OSRF.
49. Web site: DARPA's legacy: Open source simulation for robotics development and testing. 2019-04-27. Robohub.org. en-US.
50. Web site: Gazebo : Tutorial : Make an animated model (actor). 2019-04-27. gazebosim.org. OSRF.
51. https://robodk.com/library RoboDK robot library
52. including Salamander robot
53. including Nao, DARwIn-OP, Fujitsu HOAP2, Kondo KHR-2HV, KHR-3, etc.
54. https://www.cyberbotics.com/doc/guide/robots Webots robot models
55. https://www.coppeliarobotics.com/helpFiles/en/coppeliaSimFeatures.htm CoppeliaSim main features
56. http://openrave.programmingvision.com/wiki/index.php/Format:XML#Closed-chains_and_Mimic_Joints OpenRAVE Closed chains
57. http://openrave.programmingvision.com/wiki/index.php/Format:XML#Dual-arm_example OpenRAVE Dual-arm example
58. Web site: Gazebo : Tutorial : Contact Sensor. 2019-04-27. gazebosim.org. OSRF.
59. Web site: Gazebo : Tutorial : Camera Distortion. 2019-04-27. gazebosim.org. OSRF.
60. Web site: Gazebo : Tutorial : Intermediate: Velodyne. 2019-04-27. gazebosim.org. OSRF.
61. Collision detection uses a simplified model
62. Possible, no model for noise