Simulation Modeling of Highly Dynamic Omnidirectional Mobile Robots Based on Real-World Data

Simulation is a key technology in robotics as it enables the generation of environmental data and testing scenarios for development and maintenance purposes. However, simulations are an imperfect representation of the real-world and the so-called sim-to-real gap between simulation and reality hinders the deployment of virtual developed solutions without additional effort. Modeling complex systems like highly dynamic and holonomic mobile robots presents additional complexities in simulation. This paper addresses these challenges through a case study on creating a model for a highly dynamic logistics robot. The study considers the modeling of the entire system down to creating suitable colliders for the rollers of a Mecanum wheel. Additionally, the impact of significant physics parameters is presented. To bridge the sim-to-real gap, a pipeline is developed that utilizes a Motion Capture system to compare the behavior of a real robot with its simulated counterpart across various motions. By leveraging expert knowledge gained from the real-world data, the simulation model is manually tuned to replicate complex system behaviors, such as sliding effects.