Survey about dynamic simulators for robotics

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Nov-2013

                        THIS SURVEY IS OVER !

Results will be published soon; you can contact Serena Ivaldi for more information (serena.ivaldi@isir.upmc.fr).
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Jan-2014

I'm keeping the survey online, to give to new participants the possibility to share their feedback about simulators.
If you are interested in getting the analysis of the survey, you can write me: serena.ivaldi@isir.upmc.fr
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Thank you for participating to this anonymous survey!

We are interested in investigating which dynamics simulator/s you are currently using for your research in robotics.
Are you satisfied with it/them? What are its/their main pros and cons? What is your experience with simulation?
What are desirable features that your are missing?

Please help us!

The survey is organized into four sections:
1) info about you (don't worry the survey is anonymous, it's just stats)
2) your experience with simulation in general
3) info about the main tool you are using for simulation
4) more technical information about the tool (if you can't answer or you're in doubt, select "i don't know")

There will be free space to tell us freely your opinion about the tool/the tools you use.
The survey is anonymous, so say yours about pros/cons!



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If you have problems filling the questionnaire, please write to: serena.ivaldi@isir.upmc.fr 
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Some info about you
Your gender *
Your age (example: 42) *
Your education *
Country where you work *
Working in *
If you want, you can type the name of the University/Institute/Company where you work (it will only be used for statistical purposes)
Your experience with dynamics simulation
You are primarily working on .. *
Please choose max 3 keywords
Required
What is the application of your research? *
Are you or were you participating to the Darpa Robotics Challenge? *
Are you or were you participating to the Virtual Manufacturing Challenge? *
Could you briefly describe your research and why dynamics simulation is important to you? *
What is the first most important criteria for you for choosing a simulator? *
What is the second most important criteria for you for choosing a simulator? *
What is the third most important criteria for you for choosing a simulator? *
Which of these softwares have you used (at least once)?  (1/4) *
never heard of
known, but never used
used once, just to test it
used then abandoned
currently used, just to test it
currently used, but not the main tool
currently used, and it's the main tool
ODE
Bullets
OpenRave
Gazebo
Nvidia PhysX
OpenSIM
Stage
Usarsim
Morse
Webots
Which of these softwares have you used (at least once)?  (2/4) *
never heard of
known, but never used
used once, just to test it
used then abandoned
currently used, just to test it
currently used, but not the main tool
currently used, and it's the main tool
Delta3D
V-Rep
Sim
OpenHRP
Chorenoid
XDE
HumanS
Robotran
MuJoCo
iCub_SIM
Which of these softwares have you used (at least once)?  (3/4) *
never heard of
known, but never used
used once, just to test it
used then abandoned
currently used, just to test it
currently used, but not the main tool
currently used, and it's the main tool
Arboris-Python
ADAMS
SL
metapod
Blender
COMSOL
Dance
dVC3d
MBSim
Moby
Siconos
SOFA
Which of these softwares have you used (at least once)?  (4/4) *
never heard of
known, but never used
used once, just to test it
used then abandoned
currently used, just to test it
currently used, but not the main tool
currently used, and it's the main tool
Solfec
Animats
Rigid Body Dynamics Library
Havok
SIMPACK
Vortex
Umbra
SIMBAD
Box2D
RoboRobo
Your dynamics simulation tool
In the following list, what is the software tool you are currently using the most for your research?  (choose the most important one if you are using many - if it's not in the list just add the name) *
If the software tool you use the most was not in the list, could you please write something about it? Is it your own developed software? Did you publish about it? Can you provide references, URL, ..?
Why did you choose to work with this software? *
On which OS are you primarily using it? *
What API are you primarily using? *
Is it open-source? *
What is the type of license? *
On a scale from 1 to 5, where 1=insufficient 5=very good, could you rate your level of satisfaction with respect to the use of your software: *
1 (insufficient)
2 (scarse)
3 (neutral)
4 (good)
5 (very good)
The documentation: is the doc available? is it online?
Is there enough support? Mailing-lists, forums?
Installation: was it easy to install? Did it require a lot of dependencies?
For beginners: is it easy to start using it? Are there tutorials?
Advanced level: is it easy to use?
Is it an active project? Is there a large community of users and developers?
Is the API user-friendly?
What type of machine do you use for running simulations? *
Are you using it to simulate robots? *
If you are using it to simulate robots, which one/ones? *
Required
What for do you need dynamics simulation? *
Required
Based on your experience and use, how much are these features important for simulation? *
Not important at all
Not important
Neutral
Important
Very important, crucial
Stability of simulation
Precision of simulation
Speed
Computational load (CPU)
Computational load (Memory)
Visual rendering
Same interface between real and simulated system
Accuracy of contact resolution
Are you using the simulator within a middleware? If yes, which one (the principal if you are using it with more than one)? *
Based on your experience and use, what are the main problems of your simulations? *
Does not apply to my case
Never happens
Happens sometimes, but not critical for my simulations
Happens sometimes, causes failures
When happens, it is critical - limits the use of the tool
Interpenetration between bodies
Detaching bodies
Contacts are not realistic
Collisions are not detected properly
Difficulty in simulating non-rigid bodies, surfaces
Difficulty in simulating human activity
Difficulty in simulating the dynamic environment
Difficulty in customizing the simulation
Lack of documentation to handle problems
Difficulty in simulating fast and dynamic motions
Gap between simulation and reality
Computationally slow
Computationally demanding
What is the major problem of the simulations you have? *
Which desirable features are missing to this software? *
Overall, your experience with this software was *
Is there something you would like to add about the experience you had/have with this software? Do you think it is the right tool for your research? Would you recommend it?
Now few more technical questions
Does the software perform in real-time? *
Could you give us some detail about its real-time (or not) performances? They can be referred to your use case.
Did you create a custom robotic example with this software? *
If you answered yes, how many DOF did you simulate?
Does the system support standard kinematic/dynamic descriptions? *
Required
Which type of control interfaces does it support? *
Required
Which of these variables/measurements are available from the API? *
Required
Does the tool have an API for a task formalism? *
If the tool supports a task formalism, which of these?