An AICA application consists of various components and controllers that execute a specific behavior or a sequence of behaviors. These behaviors can quickly become complex, making it challenging to evaluate their safety and functionality without real hardware. Simulators offer an ideal solution for this issue. They can emulate the physics affecting the robot and demonstrate the behavior of an AICA application without the need to connect to actual robots.
In this repository, we provide several simulator options that enable users to visualize the behavior of the robot while running an AICA application. These include the official UR Simulator, available in a Docker image, and the MuJoCo Simulator.
The UR Simulator is the official tool provided by Universal Robots for simulating their robots. It closely mimics the actual pendant used by UR, providing a realistic experience that closely replicates how a user would interact with the actual robot.
MuJoCo is a free and open-source physics engine that simulates the dynamics of a robot. MuJoCo simulator is more general compared to UR Simulator as it is not related to one robot brand.
Connecting to a simulator in an AICA application is straightforward. In AICA Studio, users can select a URDF for a specific simulator. For example, as shown in the image below, users can choose the corresponding URDF from the dropdown menu. This selection is related to a specific hardware driver, which also includes the simulator driver.
This makes it easy for the user to switch between a simulated robot driver and an actual robot driver.