Integrating realistic simulation engines within the MORSE framework

Abstract

The complexity of robotics comes from the tight interactions between hardware, complex softwares, and environments. While real world experience is the only way to assess the efficiency and robustness of a robotics system, simulations help to pave the way to actual experiments. But an overall robotics system requires simulations at a level of realism which no holistic simulator can provide, given the wide spectrum of disciplines and physical processes involved. This paper presents a way to integrate various simulators, in a distributed, scalable and repeatable way, to benefit from their different advantages and get the best fitted and accurate simulation for a given robotics system. It depicts how the MORSE open-source robotics simulator is adapted to comply with the High Level Architecture standard, thus allowing the reuse of numerous dedicated realistic simulators. Two examples of the integration of simulators are provided.