MORSE is a robotic simulation software developed by roboticists from several research laboratories. It is a framework to evaluate robotic algorithms and their integration in complex environments, modeled with the Blender 3D real-time engine which brings realistic rendering and physics simulation. The simulations can be specified at various levels of abstraction. This enables researchers to focus on their field of interest, that can range from processing low-level sensor data to the integration of a complete team of robots. After nearly three years of development, MORSE is a mature tool with a large collection of components, that provides many innovative features: software-in-the-loop connectivity, multiple middleware support, configurable components, varying levels of simulation abstraction, distributed implementation for large scale multi-robot simulations and a human avatar that can interact with robots in virtual environments. This paper presents the current state of MORSE, highlighting its unique features in use cases.
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.
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