Sponsor: ONR
This is a joint project between Purdue University and the University of Iowa. It was formed to develop efficient, robust, and flexible physical-based simulations for virtual environments. It is based on the combined experiences of projects Newton, Protosolid, and the Iowa driving simulator, developed concurrently at Cornell University, University of Maryland, and Purdue University in the late 1980's. The project will develop a distributed simulation server consisting of a simulation core, a dynamics module, a geometry module based on Proxima, a control module and a task manager. The main objective of this project is to provide the scientific basis for and to demonstrate the advantages of a model-driven simulation system that integrates dynamics, geometry, and control.
With Isaac, it will be possible to simulate virtual worlds populated with autonomous robots under various levels of control. The control could range from simple script-based scenario control to complex artificial intelligence control such as what is now under study by project OZ at Carnegie Mellon University.