This document summarizes a talk on simulation technologies for robotics. It discusses how simulation can help researchers focus on specific problems without needing expertise in all robotics disciplines. Several open-source and proprietary robotics simulators are described, including Gazebo, Webots, and OpenRave. The document emphasizes that simulation saves time and money compared to physical experimentation and is important for developing and testing new robotic ideas.

1. Simulation in Robotics
Pablo Iñigo Blasco
pabloinigo@atc.us.es
Computer Architecture and Technology Department
University of Seville
NanoJornadas Imaginática - 2010

2. Talk Contents
● Quick Review of types of robots and their
related disciplines
● Robotic Simulation Technologies
● 3D Simulation Technologies Samples: Gazebo,
Webots, OpenRave

3. 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?

4. 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

5. KUKA Robot

6. Some related disciplines
● Physics
● Mechanics
● Automatic Control Theory
● Micro-controllers
● Data Acquisition
● Digital Signal processing
● Real Time Systems

7. Mobile Robots
● Not only perform a sequence of actions
● Better understanding of the surrounding world
● Intelligent Behavior and Learning

8. NAO

9. PR2

10. 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
● ...

11. 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

12. 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

13. Other Robotic Technologies
● Player
● ROS
● JDEc
● OpenRDK
● JADE
● CARMEN
● OROCOS
● YARP

14. Generic 3D Simulators
● Realistic Rendering
● Rigid Bodies Physics simulation
● World Modeling Files
● Sensors and Actuators
● Real Robots Models

15. Gazebo
● OpenSource
● Player Project
● ODE or
Bullet Physic Engine
● C++/ C / Python
● Linux
● Custom world
describing Format

16. Webots
● Proprietary
● ODE Physic Engine
● C++ / C / Python
/ Matlab / Java / Urbi
● Windows / Linux
/ Mac OS
● VRML 2.0

17. OpenRave
● OpenSource
● Player Project
● ODE or
Bullet Physic Engine
● Matlab / Python
● Linux
● Collada World Format

18. 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!

19. Thanks!

20. 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.