Introduction

RaiSim is a high-performance physics engine developed for robotics and AI. It is designed for deterministic, single-process simulation of rigid bodies, articulated systems, contacts, sensors, deformable bodies, and granular particles.

Why RaiSim?

• RaiSim is optimized for high-throughput robotics simulation.

• The accuracy of RaiSim has been validated in numerous academic publications ([2], [3], [4], [5], [6])

• The C++ API is organized around explicit worlds, objects, materials, sensors, and visualizer integration.

• The binary distribution ships headers, libraries, examples, rayrai tools, and documentation.

System Requirements

• Linux: Ubuntu 22.04 or newer is recommended. x86 builds require AVX2.

• Windows: Windows 10 or newer with Visual Studio 2019 or newer.

• macOS: current macOS releases. Apple silicon is supported; Intel systems require AVX2.

See Installation for dependency and activation details.

Example Code

The following is the shape of a simple RaiSim application. It creates a world, adds objects, publishes the scene through RaisimServer, and steps the world through the server’s thread-safe helper. Use the rayrai TCP viewer for current visualization.

#include "raisim/World.hpp"
#include "raisim/RaisimServer.hpp"

int main() {
  raisim::World::setActivationKey("PATH_TO_THE_ACTIVATION_KEY");

  raisim::World world;
  auto* anymal = world.addArticulatedSystem(PATH_TO_URDF);
  auto* ball = world.addSphere(1.0, 1.0);
  auto* ground = world.addGround();
  world.setTimeStep(0.002);

  raisim::RaisimServer server(&world);
  server.launchServer();

  while (true) {
    raisim::MSLEEP(2);
    server.integrateWorldThreadSafe();
  }
}

Below is a minimal downstream CMake file for an installed RaiSim package.

cmake_minimum_required(VERSION 3.16)
project(raisim_examples LANGUAGES CXX)

find_package(raisim CONFIG REQUIRED)
find_package(Eigen3 REQUIRED)

add_executable(app main.cpp)
target_link_libraries(app PUBLIC raisim::raisim)
if (UNIX)
  target_link_libraries(app PUBLIC pthread)
endif()

For installed examples and visualization workflows, see Quick Start and Examples.