Terrain & Outdoor Simulation

Simulating robots in outdoor and rough terrain environments: heightmaps, deformable terrain, legged locomotion, and field robotics simulation.

Learning Objectives

1. Challenges of Outdoor Simulation

2. Terrain Generation

2.1 Heightmap-Based Terrain

2.2 Procedural Generation

2.3 Real-World Terrain from DEM Data

3. Deformable Terrain

3.1 Granular Material Simulation (MuJoCo)

3.2 Soil & Sand Models

4. Legged Robot Simulation

4.1 Quadrupeds (Spot, Go1, A1)

4.2 Humanoids

4.3 Contact-Rich Locomotion

5. Weather & Lighting

6. ROS 2 Integration for Field Robots

Exercises

References