WA Vehicle Simulator¶

The WA Simulator is a powerful, multi-platform, lightweight and user-friendly simulation platform for testing algorithms intended for autonomous robot or vehicle applications. This project is under active development by Wisconsin Autonomous, a student organization at the University of Wisconsin - Madison.

Usage¶

The WA Simulator is a lightweight tool meant to facilitate algorithm development. As a result, the majority of the actual vehicle dynamics is hidden behind the wa_simulator API. All you need to do is import the module and instantiate the classes.

Default Usage¶

# Import the wa_simulator
import wa_simulator as wa

def main():
    # Create the system
    sys = wa.WASystem(step_size=1e-3)

    # Create an environment using a premade environment description
    env_filename = wa.WASimpleEnvironment.EGP_ENV_MODEL_FILE
    env = wa.WASimpleEnvironment(sys, env_filename)

    # Create an vehicle using a premade vehicle description
    veh_inputs = wa.WAVehicleInputs()
    veh_filename = wa.WALinearKinematicBicycle.GO_KART_MODEL_FILE
    veh = wa.WALinearKinematicBicycle(sys, veh_inputs, veh_filename)

    # Visualize the simulation using matplotlib
    vis = wa.WAMatplotlibVisualization(sys, veh, veh_inputs, environment=env)

    # Control the vehicle using the arrow keys
    ctr = wa.WAMatplotlibController(sys, veh_inputs, vis)

    # Instantiate the simulation manager
    sim_manager = wa.WASimulationManager(sys, env, veh, vis, ctr)

    # Simulation loop
    step_size = sys.step_size
    while sim_manager.is_ok():
        time = sys.time

        sim_manager.synchronize(time)
        sim_manager.advance(step_size)


if __name__ == "__main__":
    main()

With Chrono¶

Using Chrono is as simple as changing a few file names and importing the chrono version of the simulator. Even though wa_simulator.chrono is the new import, all default wa_simulator classes are still accessible as seen above. Background about Chrono can be found here.

# Import the wa_simulator
import wa_simulator.chrono as wa

def main():
    # Create the system
    sys = wa.WAChronoSystem(step_size=1e-3)

    # Create an environment using a premade environment description
    env_filename = wa.WAChronoEnvironment.EGP_ENV_MODEL_FILE
    env = wa.WAChronoEnvironment(sys, env_filename)

    # Create an vehicle using a premade vehicle description
    veh_inputs = wa.WAVehicleInputs()
    veh_filename = wa.WAChronoVehicle.GO_KART_MODEL_FILE
    veh = wa.WAChronoVehicle(sys, veh_inputs, env, veh_filename)

    # Visualize the simulation using matplotlib
    vis = wa.WAMatplotlibVisualization(sys, veh, veh_inputs, environment=env)

    # Control the vehicle using the arrow keys
    ctr = wa.WAMatplotlibController(sys, veh_inputs, vis)

    # Instantiate the simulation manager
    sim_manager = wa.WASimulationManager(sys, env, veh, vis, ctr)

    # Simulation loop
    step_size = sys.step_size
    while sim_manager.is_ok():
        time = sys.time

        sim_manager.synchronize(time)
        sim_manager.advance(step_size)


if __name__ == "__main__":
    main()

Command Line Interface¶

wa_simulator can also be run via a command line interface with the entrypoint wasim. When wa_simulator is installed, this CLI is automatically made available and has subcommands available.

Documentation¶

License¶

wa_simulator is made available under the BSD-3 License. For more details, see LICENSE.

Support¶

Contact Wisconsin Autonomous for any questions or concerns regarding the contents of this repository.