Repository > MAST Simulation Environment

The MAST simulation environment relies on the Gazebo robotics simulator which in turn uses the Open Dynamics Engine (ODE]) to simulate rigid body dynamics. Algorithms can interface directly to Gazebo or through the Player architecture.

Dependencies

 * ODE 0.9 (0.10.1 may also work..)
 * Ogre 1.6
 * Gazebo 0.8 (custom GRASP version - see below)
 * Player 2.1.1

Installation Notes

Basic instructions for installing Player and Gazebo can be found at their respective websites. There are some specific versions and compile options that must be used for compatibility with the MAST robot models. Please follow the following instructions when installing the dependencies.

Compiling/Installing Player 2.1.1

The Player distribution bundle can be downloaded here.

Use the standard install procedure (we typically compile without any drivers built in to reduce necessary dependencies at this point): 

./configure --disable-alldrivers
make
[sudo] make install

Compiling/Installing ODE

We have used Gazebo-0.8 successfully with ODE versions 0.9 and 0.10.1 (though the Gazebo developers list 0.9 as the most recent compatible version). 

./configure --enable-double-precision --enable-release
make
[sudo] make install

Note the change to default configure options for ODE

Compiling/Installing Gazebo 0.8.0

We have an "in-house" version of Gazebo (grasp-gazebo.tgz) that solves several issues specific to the way we use Gazebo. However, one should consult the standard Gazebo install documentation for information on dependencies and basic tests.

Gazebo requires Ogre 1.6 which has the following dependencies: 


libzzip-dev libxaw7-dev libxxf86vm-dev libfreeimage-dev libfreetype6-dev libtool
autoconf automake libois-dev libxrandr-dev libglut3-dev libxml2-dev libfltk1.1-
dev libboost-*

The above can be installed using the standard sudo apt-get install command in Ubuntu 

//CG toolkit
http://developer.nvidia.com/object/cg_toolkit.html

Compiling and installing is fairly simple: 

scons prefix=[desired install directory]
[sudo] scons install

Simulation Package Usage

After Gazebo is installed and working properly, the MAST simulation environment can be extracted and used. Some notes:

  • Extract to arbitrary directory $(MAST_ROOT)
  • add $(MAST_ROOT) to $(HOME)/.gazeborc file as an additional <gazeboPath>

Try running 

gazebo scarab.world

and 

player scarab.cfg

to test Gazebo using the Player interfaces.

Downloads

mast-2.0.tgz

History

  • October 3, 2008: Update to use newer generation of Gazebo and Player (For instructions on using the MAST simulation environment with Gazebo-0.7 and Player-2.0 see MAST Simulation (old))
  • August 2008: Initial release of models/software