*This contribution describes the use of simulation in understanding the behavior and interactions among groups of autonomous, semi-autonomous and human-driven vehicles or robots engaged in coordinated maneuvers. We describe the structure of a multi-agent simulator called Synchrono and provide results detailing its scalability and ability to deal with humans in the loop. Synchrono targets the simulation of multiple agents acting in a coordinated world, with the goal of being able to test autonomous vehicles (AVs) directly in simulation. Synchrono’s core is based around four main components: a physics-based dynamics engine that can simulate both rigid and compliant systems, fluid-solid interactions, deformable terrains, etc; a sensing module that provides camera, lidar, GPS and IMU data that seeks to reflect representative data that would be produced by real-world sensors; an agent-to-agent communication framework; and an agent-to-agent synchronization framework which allows vehicles to simulate their dynamics separately while remaining in a coherent virtual environment. Synchrono provides a virtual testing ground for investigating questions that are physics-dependent such as “How can an AV recover from a skid on black ice and safely resume driving?”, “Are sensing and control algorithms robust enough to stop for pedestrians in the roadway under a variety of circumstances?”, etc...*


Synchrono: A Scalable, Physics-Based Simulation Platform for Testing Groups of Autonomous Vehicles And/or Robots

Division / Sponsors: 
Design Engineering Division and Computers & Information In Engineering Division


Paper Proceedings: https://asmedigitalcollection.asme.org/IDETC-CIE/IDETC-CIE2020/volume/83907

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