Using Modelica for advanced Multi-Body modelling in 3D graphical robotic simulators

Abstract

This paper describes a framework to extend the 3D robotic simulation environment Gazebo, and similar ones, with enhanced, tailor-made, multi-body dynamics specified in the Modelica language. The body-to-body interaction models are written in Modelica, but they use the sophisticated collision detection capabilities of the Gazebo engine. This contribution is a first step toward the simulation of complex robotics systems integrating detailed physics modelling and realistic sensors such as lidar and cameras. A proof-of-concept implementation is described in the paper integrating Gazebo collider and the Modelica Multi-Body library, and the results obtained when simulating the interaction of an elastic sphere with a rigid plane are shown.