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hardware_sim

README.md

Standalone Robot Simulations

This directory contains example programs that illustrate how to use Drake's YAML configuration fragments to set up and run your own robot simulation.

The example shows how to simulate a robot where joint command messages arrive from some external source. The simulation publishes simulated joint status messages and simulated camera image messages.

The same demo is implemented in both Python and C++, for reference.

Note that the demo contains only static scene by default. The robot is uncommanded and nothing is happening; all you'll see is the scene geometry along with a display of the contact forces (green arrows). You can run another program robot_commander.py to actuate the robot with a simple motion.

Running the Python demo from a Drake binary release

The demo is not installed as part of Drake releases. We expect and encourage you to copy these files into your own projects and customize them there.

(1) Use https://drake.mit.edu/installation.html to install Drake. The pip installation is a good option. Make sure your $PYTHONPATH is set correctly per the instructions.

(2) Copy hardware_sim.py and example_scenarios.yaml into a temporary directory:

(3) (Optional) Run the standalone visualizer:

python3 -m pydrake.visualization.meldis -w &

This command will open a new web browser window, initially showing an empty scene. This "standalone" visualizer can remain running even as you repeatedly start and stop the simulation.

(4) Run the simulation.

python3 hardware_sim.py --scenario_file=example_scenarios.yaml \
  --scenario_name=Demo --scenario_text='{ simulation_duration: 60 }'

(5) (Optional) Send actuation commands to the robot.

Copy robot_commander.py into the temporary directory and run the command in another terminal:

python3 robot_commander.py

If you didn't launch the visualizer in step (3), look for a log message like Meshcat listening for connections at http://localhost:7000 and click on that link to open a temporary visualizer (that will disappear when you close the simulation).

Running from a Drake source build

To use Python, run these commands:

$ cd drake
$ bazel run //tools:meldis -- -w &
$ bazel run //examples/hardware_sim:demo_py

To use C++, run these commands:

Run these commands:

$ cd drake
$ bazel run //tools:meldis -- -w &
$ bazel run //examples/hardware_sim:demo_cc

(Optionally) To actuate the robot, run the command in another terminal:

$ bazel run //examples/hardware_sim:robot_commander