V-Rep. Presentation no.

10

V-Rep. Entities III

Highlights
V-Rep. Entities III
• Scene Objects
• Vision sensors
• Force sensors
• Paths
• Octress
• Point clouds
• Entities Collections
Scene Objects

The main elements in V-REP that are used for

building a simulation scene are scene objects
(objects in short). Objects are visible in the scene
hierarchy and in the scene view. In the scene view,
objects have a three dimensional representation as
illustrated in following figure:
Scene Objects |

[Object types in V-REP and their three dimensional representation]

Scene object properties
The scene object properties dialog is located at
[Menu bar --> Tools --> Scene object properties].
You can also open the dialog with a double-click on
an object icon in the scene hierarchy, or with a click
on its toolbar button:

[Scene object properties toolbar button]

Scene Objects |

The scene object properties dialog

displays properties related to objects
(i.e. scene objects). The dialog is
context sensitive and its content will
mainly depend on the scene object
selection state: only the properties of
the last selected object will be
displayed.

[Scene object properties dialog, currently displaying the object common properties]
Vision sensors

V-REP offers, next to proximity sensors, another

type of sensors: vision sensors. Vision sensors,
which are viewable objects, operate in a very similar
way as camera objects: they will render the objects
that are in their field of view and trigger detection if
specified thresholds are over- or under-shot.
Scene Objects | Vision Sensors

Vision sensors, which can detect renderable entities, should be

used over proximity sensors mainly when color, light or structure
plays a role in the detection process (e.g. infrared sensors, or,
more generally, sensors sensible to light (cameras, etc.)).

However, depending on the graphic card the application is

running on, or on the complexity of the scene objects, vision
sensors might be a little bit slower than proximity sensors
Scene Objects | Vision Sensors

Following illustrates applications using vision sensors:

[(1) industrial robot observed by 2 vision sensors, (2) Line tracer vehicle equipped with 3 vision sensors]
Scene Objects | Vision Sensors

Make sure not to mix-up vision sensors with cameras. Following

are the main differences:

• A vision sensor has a fixed resolution. A camera has no

specific resolution (i.e. it adjusts automatically to the view size).
• A vision sensor's image content can be accessed via the
API, and image processing filters are available. A camera's
image content is not directly available via the API (but via a
callback mechanism), and image processing not directly
supported.
Scene Objects | Vision Sensors

• A vision sensor generally requires more CPU time

and operates slower than cameras.
• A vision sensor can only display renderable objects.
A camera can display all object types.
Scene Objects | Vision Sensors

The implemented vision sensor functionality uses a special

feature of your graphic card called FBO (Frame Buffer Object). Vision
sensors can only operate while a simulation is running; this means
that a vision sensor's image content is only visible during simulation.

Vision sensors are added to the scene with

[menu bar --> Add --> Vision sensor].
Force sensors

Force sensors are initially rigid links between two

shapes that are able to measure transmitted forces
and torques. The rigidity of force sensors is
conditional, in the sense that force sensors can be
broken if a certain condition arises (e.g. if a force or
torque threshold is overshot).
Scene Objects | Force Sensors

Following figure illustrates an application

using a force sensor:

[Force sensor object (green) measuring the force and

torque exerted by a beam (blue) anchored in a wall (red)]
Scene Objects | Force Sensors

A force sensor measures a pair of 3 values representing the force

on the sensor along the x-, y- and z-axis, and the torque on the
sensor about the x-, y- and z-axis:

[Forces and torques measured by a force sensor]

Scene Objects | Force Sensors

Initially, a force sensor acts as

a rigid link. During simulation,
a force sensor can however be
broken when a specified
force/torque threshold is
overshot or when some other
user-defined conditions are
met. Following figures
illustrate the broken state of a [Broken force sensor]
force sensor:
Scene Objects | Force Sensors

A force sensor is only operational during simulation if it is

dynamically enabled. For more information on dynamically
enabled force sensors, refer also to the section on designing
dynamic simulations. Joints are also able to measure a force
or a torque, however only along/about their z-axis.

Force sensors are added to the scene with

[Menu bar --> Add --> Force sensor].
Paths
A path is an object that defines a path or trajectory
in space. It can be used for various tasks as
illustrated in following figures:

[Path object examples for (a) end-effector guidance, (b) path planning, (c) caterpillar
simulation, (d) track simulation, (e) escalator simulation]
Scene Objects | Paths

Path objects can be added to the scene with [Menu bar --> Add -->
Path]. Two basic paths are available by default: a simple segment-
type path, or a circle-type path. They can be oriented or scaled,
but oftentimes this is not enough. The user has several
alternatives to generate customized path objects:

• Import a path from a file.

• Edit a path.
• Generate a path from the edge of a shape. See the edge edit
mode for details.
Scene Objects | Paths

Paths by themselves don't do much. They are

usually used in conjunction with dummies and
other objects to obtain the desired effect. To
move an object along a path, a dummy first
needs to be assigned to the path, then the
object can be attached to the dummy which
will follow the path's intrinsic movement.
Scene Objects | Paths

Paths are renderable objects, this

means that paths can be seen by vision
sensors. The path shaping functionality
however needs to be enabled. The
renderable property of a path can be
altered in the object common properties.
Scene Objects | Paths

Paths are renderable objects, this

means that paths can be seen by vision
sensors. The path shaping functionality
however needs to be enabled. The
renderable property of a path can be
altered in the object common properties.

Some path data can be recorded by

graph objects.
Octrees
An octree is an object that represents a spacial
partitioning. It is made up by a tree data structure in
which each node has exactly eight children.
Occupied leaf nodes are represented as voxels.
Scene Objects | Octress

Octrees can be used to offer a simplified

representation for shapes or point
clouds, or can act as an occupancy
grid/space:

[Octree]
Scene Objects | Octress

Octrees are collidable, measurable and

detectable objects. This means that octrees:

• can be used in collision detections with

other collidable objects.
• can be used in minimum distance
calculations with other measurable objects.
Scene Objects | Octress

• can be detected by proximity sensors.

Octrees can be added to the scene with

[Menu bar --> Add --> Octree], and edited via
the octree properties.
Point clouds
A point cloud is an object that acts as an octree
based container of points:

[Point cloud]
Scene Objects | Point Clouds

Point clouds are collidable, measurable and

detectable objects. This means that point
clouds:

• can be used in collision detections with

other collidable objects that are volume
based, such as octrees.
• can be used in minimum distance
calculations with other measurable objects.
Scene Objects | Point Clouds

• can be detected by proximity sensors.

Point clouds can be added to the scene with

[Menu bar --> Add --> Point cloud], and
edited via the point cloud properties.
Collections
A collection is a user-defined collection of scene
objects. A collection has to contain at least one object
and is considered to be an entity (objects are also
entities). Collections are useful when referring to
several objects like a robot for instance. V-REP
supports calculations based not only on objects, but
also on collections.
Scene Objects | Collections

For instance the collision detection module

allows registering following collision pair:
(collection A; object B). The collision checking
algorithm will then check whether the
collection A (any object composing it) collides
with object B.
Scene Objects | Collections

Collections are collidable, measurable,

detectable and renderable entities. This
means that collections:

• can be used in collision detections against

other collidable entities.
• can be used in minimum distance
calculations with other measurable entities.
• can be detected by proximity sensors.
• can be detected or seen by vision sensors.
Scene Objects | Collections

Collections are collidable, measurable,

detectable and renderable entities. This
means that collections:

• can be used in collision detections against

other collidable entities.
• can be used in minimum distance
calculations with other measurable entities.
• can be detected by proximity sensors.
• can be detected or seen by vision sensors.
Scene Objects | Collections

Even if a collection is collidable, measurable,

detectable and renderable, this doesn't mean
that all objects contained in the collection are
collidable, measurable, detectable or
renderable:
Scene Objects | Collections

• During collision detection, only the

collidable objects of a collection (subset of
the collection) are tested against another
collidable entity.

• During distance measurement, only the

measurable objects of a collection (subset of
the collection) are measured against another
measurable entity.
Scene Objects | Collections

• Only the detectable objects of a collection

(subset of the collection) can be detected by
proximity sensors.

• Only the renderable objects of a collection

(subset of the collection) can be detected by
vision sensors.
Scene Objects | Collections

A collection can however override the

collidable, measurable, detectable and
renderable properties of its objects.
Refer to the collection dialog for more
details.
Scene Objects | Collections

A collection has to be composed by at

least one element. Following elements
are supported:
• All scene objects
• Loose objects
• Tree, base included
• Tree, base excluded
• Chain, tip included
• Chain, tip excluded
• A combination of above elements
Scene Objects | Collections

All scene objects

The element is made up of all scene objects as can
be seen in following figure (arrows indicate: is child
of):

[Element made up of all scene objects]

Scene Objects | Collections

Loose objects
This is a loosely definable combination of scene
objects as can be seen in following figure (arrows
indicate: is child of):

[Element made up of loose objects]

Scene Objects | Collections

Tree, base included

This includes an object and all of its children (and
children's children, etc.) as can be seen in following
figure (arrows indicate: is child of):

[Element made up of a tree, with base included]

Scene Objects | Collections

Tree, base excluded

This includes all children (and children's children,
etc.) of an object, without the object itself as can be
seen in following figure (arrows indicate: is child of):

[Element made up of a tree, with the base excluded]

Scene Objects | Collections

Chain, tip included

This includes an object and all of its parents (and
parent's parents, etc.) as can be seen in following
figure (arrows indicate: is child of):

[Element made up of a chain, with the tip included]

Scene Objects | Collections

Chain, tip excluded

This includes all parents (and parent's parents, etc.)
of an object, without the object itself as can be seen
in following figure (arrows indicate: is child of):

[Element made up of a chain, with the tip excluded]

Scene Objects | Collections

Combination of elements
Within a collection, elements can be additive or
subtractive. Following figure shows a collection
defined by three elements:

[(1) three elements, (2) resulting collection composed by the three elements]
Scene Objects | Collections

When all objects

contained in a
collection are
selected, the
collection will be
highlighted in pink
(default color that
can be adjusted in
the user settings [Collection selection]
dialog) as can be
seen in following
figure.
Following Highlights
V-Rep. Presentation no. 11

• Calculation Modules
• Calculation Modules Properties Dialog
• Collision Detection
• Distance Calculation
• Inverse kinematics
• Dynamics