Synchrono: An open-source framework for physics-based simulation of collaborating robots

We present an open-source framework called SYNCHRONO that enables one to use physics-based simulation to gauge how collaborating robots work together in a variety of environments. Building on top of the CHRONO dynamics engine [1], the framework provides early support for simulation of robots operating in off-road conditions, underwater, city environments, etc. In this contribution we focus on autonomous vehicles (AVs), which represent but one of the many identities that a "robot" can assume. In this context, SYNCHRONO draws on a template-based vehicle library to enable the simulation of shared-road scenarios involving wheeled and/or tracked vehicles. SYNCHRONO has early support for sensing simulation, communication simulation, and virtual environment generation for rapid prototyping of virtual scenarios; i.e., virtual worlds. Although the distributed computing paradigm embraced in SYNCHRONO allows the simulation in soft real-time of nontrivial many-robot scenarios, its strength lies in the multi-physics simulation support that enables the analysis of complex scenarios that involve rigid-body dynamics, deformable bodies, and fluid-solid interaction. The caveat is that in computationally demanding cases, e.g., mobility on granular terrain, under-water robotics, etc., SYNCHRONO does not run in real-time, which in such cases prevents its hardware-in-the-loop/human-in-the-loop use.