A Flexible Mixed Reality Simulation Framework for Software Development in Robotics

In recent years robots have dramatically improved in functionality, but as a result their designs have also become more complicated. The increase in the complexity of the tasks and the design of the robot result in a challenging and time-consuming robot development cycle. This paper identifies requirements for improving the robot development process, focusing on facilitating a safe and reliable transition process from simulation to real world tests. We propose that, by applying the concept of Mixed Reality (MR) to robot simulation, it is possible to create a realistic, synthetic environment that enables robot software developers to experiment freely and safely. The new simulation approach, named MR simulation, offers the flexibility of creating simulation environments composed of real and virtual objects that seamlessly interact with one another. This paper contributes a generic, conceptual MR framework which is demonstrated to provide a common, standardised simulation environment for experimentation involving real and virtual objects. An MR robot simulator is implemented based on the framework, integrating standardised data interfaces in its design to increase interoperability. Evaluation results demonstrate that the MR robot simulator is reusable in three different applications. It improved simulation reliability, reduced development cost, and increased efficiency.