[Sergii] has been learning about robot simulation and wrote up a basic simulator for a robodog platform: the Unitree A1. It only took about 800 lines of code to do so, which probably makes it a good place to start if one is headed in a similar direction.
Right now, [Sergii]’s simulator is an interactive physics model than runs in the browser. Software-wise, once the model of the robot exists the Rapier JavaScript physics engine takes care of the physics simulation. The robot’s physical layout comes from the manufacturer’s repository, so it doesn’t need to be created from scratch.
To make the tool useful, the application has two models of the robot, side by side. The one on the left is the control model, and has interactive sliders for limb positions. All movements on the control model are transmitted to the model on the right, which is the simulation model, setting the pose. The simulation model is the one that actually models the physics and gravity of all the desired motions and positions. [Sergii]’s next step is to use the simulator to design and implement a simple walking gait controller, and we look forward to how that turns out.
If Unitree sounds familiar to you, it might be because we recently covered how an unofficial SDK was able to open up some otherwise-unavailable features on the robodogs, so check that out if you want to get a little more out of what you paid for.
So it’s Browser Bowser?
The bad part is having to pick up the piles of code it drops….
This somehow reminds me of the Black Mirror episode Metalhead.
Yep the “unofficial SDK was able to open up some otherwise-unavailable features on the robodogs” refers to tracking down human beings,
I’m not worried myself as my robo-cat will scratch it’s eyes out.
Read Fahrenheit 451… The Robo-Dogs were efficient and lethal.
Grab a leg and pull it forward, hilarity ensues :)
A browser simulation of a toy….news ?
800 lines of code plus the small matter of importing a physics engine.