Simulation Concepts

This chapter introduces the core concepts of robotics simulation.

Why Simulate?

Simulation is a powerful tool in robotics for several reasons:

• Safety: It is much safer to test new algorithms and behaviors in a simulated environment before deploying them on a physical robot.
• Cost: Simulators are free and can run on a personal computer, whereas physical robots can be expensive.
• Speed: Simulations can often run faster than real-time, allowing you to test your code more quickly.

Simulators

This book will cover three popular simulators:

• Gazebo: A popular open-source simulator that is well-integrated with ROS.
• Unity: A powerful game engine that can be used for robotics simulation with the Unity Robotics Hub.
• NVIDIA Isaac Sim: A photorealistic, GPU-accelerated simulator for robotics.