Phobos: A tool for creating complex robot models

Abstract

The rise of task specific requirements for robots leads to an increasing complexity of the affiliated system. To ensure a seamless, simulation based development of both hard-and software a virtual twin is necessary, which is able to reflect different aspects of the mechatronic system. Most description formats for these systems are based on XML (eXtensible Markup Language), which encodes the necessary data for simulation, e.g. mechanical structure, in-ertial data, visual and collision representations. However, the initial modeling or continuous refinement of the model based on design iterations, sensor and actor integration can be a time consuming, challenging task for the modeler. Also, tiny mistakes in the model description can lead to huge differences in the modeled system. With increasing model complexity the model files become even more difficult to debug.