Robot: a Physical Modeling System for Robotic Applications

Some robotic tasks (grasping by a dextrous hand, planning the motion of an all-terrain vehicle, ..) need to study complex contact interactions between the robot and its environment. Classical geometrical models (representing the spatial properties of an object) dont't suit the study of such interactions. Because these interactions depend on physical properties such as mass, mass distribution, rigidity/elasticity factors, viscosity, and collision forces. In order to study these interactions we need a more general model (called physical model), which enables to represent not only the shape of the object but also its motion, its deformation and, its interaction with the environment and with other objects. This paper talks about the Robot system, which enable to physically represent robots and to study their physical behavior.