Simulation in RoboticsPablo Iñigo Blasco

pabloinigo@atc.us.es

Computer Architecture and Technology DepartmentUniversity of Seville

NanoJornadas Imaginática - 2010

Talk Contents

● Quick Review of types of robots and their related disciplines

● Robotic Simulation Technologies

● 3D Simulation Technologies Samples: Gazebo, Webots, OpenRave

Reflexions about simulation importance in robotics

● What do we have to know to build a complete new robot from scratch? Is it possible?

● How many scientific disciplines are involved in Robotics?

Industrial robots

● Perform repetitive tasks following a step sequence

● Typically articulated arms with 3 or more freedom degrees

● Not much understanding of the surrounding world

KUKA Robot

Some related disciplines

● Physics● Mechanics● Automatic Control Theory● Micro-controllers● Data Acquisition● Digital Signal processing● Real Time Systems

Mobile Robots

● Not only perform a sequence of actions

● Better understanding of the surrounding world

● Intelligent Behavior and Learning

NAO

PR2

Some related disciplines

● Any disciplines of industrial robotics and more:

● Operative Systems

● Communications

● Image Processing

● Concurrent and Distributed Programming

● Software Engineering

● Task Planning

● Logic Reasoning

● Machine Learning

● Multi-Agent system and Emergency

● ...

Why Simulation in Robotics?

● It's Easier. No need to understand all disciplines in robotics

● Let focus on a specific problem and develop&test new ideas

● Save time and money

● Experimentation is the base of the science

Simulation Technologies for Robotics

OpenSource

Stage, Gazebo, Pyro, Simbad, OpenSim, UsarSim, Robocode, OpenRave, Breve, Blender, GraspIt, Eyesim

Proprietary

Webots, Marilou, Cogmaiton, Ms Robotics Studio, Modelica, Robologix, LabView, Simulink, Matlab Robotics Toolkit, EasyRob, RoboLogix

Other Robotic Technologies

● Player● ROS ● JDEc ● OpenRDK ● JADE ● CARMEN● OROCOS● YARP

Generic 3D Simulators

● Realistic Rendering● Rigid Bodies Physics simulation● World Modeling Files● Sensors and Actuators● Real Robots Models

Gazebo

● OpenSource● Player Project● ODE or

Bullet Physic Engine● C++/ C / Python● Linux● Custom world

describing Format

Webots

● Proprietary● ODE Physic Engine● C++ / C / Python

/ Matlab / Java / Urbi● Windows / Linux

/ Mac OS● VRML 2.0

OpenRave

● OpenSource● Player Project● ODE or

Bullet Physic Engine● Matlab / Python● Linux● Collada World Format

Talk Ideas

● Robotic is hard.

● We need to isolate problems and simulation can help us.

● There are many robotic simulators with different and interesting features

● Share Knowledge and collaborate with SCS!

Thanks!

References

● Michel, O. / Cyberbotics Ltd - WebotsTM: Professional Mobile Robot Simulation, pp. 39-42, International Journal of Advanced Robotic Systems, Volume 1 Number 1 (2004), ISSN 1729-8806

● Design and Use Paradigms -for Gazebo, An Open-Source Multi-Robot Simulator. by Nathan Koenig, Andrew Howard In IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (2004)

● L. Hugues and N. Bredeche. Simbad: an autonomous robot simulation package for education and research. In Proceedings of The Ninth International Conference on the Simulation of Adaptive Behavior (SAB'06), Rome, Italy, 2006.

● R. Diankov and J. Kuner. Openrave: A planning architecture for autonomous robotics. Technical Report CMU-RI-TR-08-34, Robotics Institute, CMU, 2008.