RobotSimulation.Core 0.2.0

RobotSimulation

简体中文版本见 README.zh-CN.md / For the Chinese version, see README.zh-CN.md.

A self-contained, ROS-free, embeddable robot 3D-visualization and simulation library for desktop UIs. It cleanly decouples the scene object model, pure-CPU render data, and robot domain model from any concrete graphics backend and UI framework, ultimately targeting rviz-like capabilities. The same scene embeds in Avalonia / WPF / a custom-drawn window and runs headless (URDF parsing, forward kinematics, pose & point-cloud processing).

1. Packages

The repo is organized by the boundaries of future publishable NuGet packages — a directory is an assembly boundary. Three library assemblies plus the (unpublished) host projects:

Packaging: the three libraries pack as RobotSimulation.Core / .Robot / .OpenGL. PackageId, Version, Authors, RepositoryUrl, PackageReadmeFile and symbol packages are configured (Directory.Build.props plus each .csproj), and every package carries its generated XML documentation file for IntelliSense — dotnet pack RobotSimulation.sln produces the three .nupkg + .snupkg. The license is settled too: MIT, declared as the SPDX expression MIT in Directory.Build.props with a matching LICENSE at the repo root that every package also carries — so dotnet pack output states its terms on its own.

2. Feature Highlights

• Scene object model: GameObject + Transform hierarchy, SceneGraph root container, Camera (orbit), Light (point / directional).
• Visualization primitives: Box / Sphere / Cylinder / Capsule / GroundPlane / Arrow / Axes / Grid / Curve / PointCloud.
• Pure-CPU render data: MeshData / LineData / PointCloud2Data / MaterialData / TextureReference, thread-friendly and reusable.
• Render abstraction: IRenderContext / IRenderer, GraphicsFactory composition root; OpenGL is the only implementation.
• Performance & device info: IRenderer.Stats (FrameStats: FPS / frame time) and IRenderContext.DeviceInfo (GraphicsDeviceInfo: GPU vendor / renderer / GL & GLSL version) — pure data the host renders as its own overlay.
• Model import: AssimpModelLoader (STL / OBJ / DAE / glTF), point clouds PointCloudIo (PCD / PLY).
• Robotics: RobotModel (URDF → robot GameObject tree, itself a GameObject), RobotState (headless FK), pure-data descriptions, extensible IAssetResolver.
• Custom shaders: the OpenGL backend ships a built-in GLSL pipeline (Model / Line / Point / Skybox / Axes) as embedded resources, and the architecture is deliberately shaped so shading can become a first-class, game-engine-like extension point (see docs/opengl/en.md; per-node custom-shader injection is a planned next step).
• Picking & selection feedback: Camera.ScreenToWorldRay → SceneGraph.Pick / PickAndSelect (a pick highlights the object and mounts that object's own local axes as a read-only marker; PickAndHighlight flips the highlight alone) — plus the renderer's backdrop-free screen-space orientation gizmo. No drag handles exist anywhere in the library, so feedback can never edit a model's poses.
• Cross-UI embedding: Core / Robot touch no graphics or window API at all, and OpenGL mentions Silk.NET only where the host's own GL handle must cross the boundary (GraphicsFactory.Create / CreateContext and the resource types uploaded through it) — the backend and the host stay replaceable.

3. Install

# Engine kernel (scene / geometry / point-cloud / utils)
dotnet add package RobotSimulation.Core

# Robot domain model
dotnet add package RobotSimulation.Robot

# OpenGL render backend (Silk.NET + StbImageSharp)
dotnet add package RobotSimulation.OpenGL

Version numbers and PackageId are set at first release; the repo currently targets net8.0.

4. Quick Start

4.1 Headless: parse URDF + forward kinematics (no rendering)

using RobotSimulation.Robot;

// URDF text → pure-data description → headless joint state & FK
var state = RobotModel.Parse(File.ReadAllText("robot.urdf")).CreateState();

state.SetJointValue("shoulder", 1.2f);   // revolute: radians
state.SetJointValue("slider", 0.35f);     // prismatic: meters

Matrix4x4 eePose = state.GetLinkGlobalPose("tool0");

4.2 Visualization: build a scene + add a robot (rendering handled by the backend)

using System.Numerics;
using RobotSimulation.Core.Scene;
using RobotSimulation.Core.Geometry;
using RobotSimulation.Core.Rendering;
using RobotSimulation.Robot;

var scene = new SceneGraph();                       // default camera / lights / grid (world axes are opt-in)

// A simple box primitive
scene.Add(new Box(1f, 0.5f, 0.2f, name: "base"));

// The robot: a GameObject tree, added as an ordinary drawable node
var robot = RobotModel.ParseFile("arm.urdf");
scene.Add(robot);
robot.SetJointValue("shoulder", 0.8f);

// Per-frame logic is injected, not subclassed (optional): any node can carry behaviors
var marker = new Box(0.2f, 0.2f, 0.2f, name: "marker");
scene.Add(marker);
float spin = 0;
marker.AddUpdate((go, dt) =>
    go.Transform.Rotation = Quaternion.CreateFromAxisAngle(Vector3.UnitY, spin += (float)dt));

// Each update: drive joints, run behaviors / update the scene (background thread), then Rendering on the render thread
scene.Update(deltaTime);

4.3 Hook up a graphics backend (OpenGL example)

using RobotSimulation.Core.Rendering;
using RobotSimulation.Core.Scene;
using RobotSimulation.OpenGL.Device;

// Once you have a GL instance in your window / render context:
(IRenderContext context, IRenderer renderer) = GraphicsFactory.Create(gl);

context.Resize(viewportWidth, viewportHeight);      // viewport = pixel width / height
renderer.Render(scene);                             // per frame

The composition root (window, input, creation of the GL instance) belongs to the host; the library only assembles a GL into an IRenderContext / IRenderer.

4.4 Embedding in a UI framework (Avalonia example)

The library never creates a window or a GL context, so a UI host only answers two questions: where does GL come from and which framebuffer do I draw into. src/AvaloniaTest/Controls/RobotViewportControl.cs is the reference implementation:

public class RobotViewportControl : OpenGlControlBase          // Avalonia hands out a context per control
{
    protected override void OnOpenGlInit(GlInterface gl)
    {
        GL silkGl = GL.GetApi(gl.GetProcAddress);               // wrap the host's proc addresses
        (_context, _renderer) = GraphicsFactory.Create(silkGl);  // the whole composition root
        _scene = new SceneGraph();
    }

    protected override void OnOpenGlRender(GlInterface gl, int framebuffer)
    {
        _gl.BindFramebuffer(FramebufferTarget.Framebuffer, (uint)framebuffer); // draw into the control
        _context.Resize(pixelWidth, pixelHeight);   // physical pixels = control size × RenderScaling
        _context.Clear(_scene.BackgroundColor);
        _renderer.Render(_scene);
        RequestNextFrameRendering();                // keep the frame loop running
    }
}

Both runnable host tests ship in this repo. They take no data arguments at all: each loads the single URDF model named in its own source — Assets/Models/fairino3_v6/fairino3_v6.urdf, copied next to the executable by the project file — and writes the same GPU / FPS / smoke lines to the console, so the two runs can be compared line by line:

# Either host: render 120 frames, print GPU + FPS, exit 0 — usable as a CI smoke test
dotnet run --project src/BareWindowTest -- --smoke 120
dotnet run --project src/AvaloniaTest  -- --smoke 120

# Without --smoke the same command opens the window and runs until it is closed
dotnet run --project src/AvaloniaTest

One run loads exactly one URDF (fairino3_v6); the grid floor, lights and camera pose all come from the library's default SceneGraph, its renderer adds the screen-space orientation gizmo in the bottom-right corner, and a click selects through SceneGraph.PickAndSelect — the picked object is highlighted and carries its own local axes, display only: no drag handles exist anywhere in the library, so feedback can never edit a robot's joint-driven poses (the world-origin axes are opt-in). The repository also ships further ready-to-use samples in Assets/ — URDF built-in geometry, the community urdf_tutorial package, all five mesh formats, and two RGB point clouds — plus the scripts that regenerate them; swap one in by changing a single constant. See docs/testing/en.md for where the data comes from and how to add or download more.

5. Documentation

Fully split into Chinese / English, per module and for this index itself — docs/README.md (English) / docs/README.zh-CN.md (中文).

6. Conventions

• Coordinates: right-handed world, Z-up; camera up = +Z; primitive rotation axes along +Z (URDF/ROS semantics).
• Units: lengths in meters; angles / joint values in radians; colors as Vector4 RGBA with components in [0,1].
• Render data: MeshData / MaterialData are pure-CPU data, buildable on any thread; GPU resources are instantiated & cached by the backend on the render thread.
• Threading: scene mutation and SceneGraph.Update run on the update thread; Render runs only on the render thread; Logger is available on any thread.
• Dependency direction: host → OpenGL/Robot → Core; Core never references Robot / OpenGL / any UI framework.

7. Roadmap

• Packaging metadata (PackageId / version / NuGet metadata / README / license): Directory.Build.props plus each .csproj, verified with dotnet pack — 3 .nupkg + 3 .snupkg, each carrying its XML docs, the README and a LICENSE copy. Pushing to a feed stays a separate, manual step.
• Visualization display layer (rviz-like Display) and external write protocol (Sink).
• Three host samples / test projects: bare window, WPF, Avalonia — one RobotViewport-style control each, proving the library can render standalone and providing a place to host tests. In progress: bare window (src/BareWindowTest) ✔ and Avalonia (src/AvaloniaTest) ✔; WPF pending.
• Unit tests: geometry primitives, ray picking, URDF parsing, RobotState FK. In progress: src/RobotSimulation.Tests (xunit, 37 checks over four files) covers URDF parsing and IAssetResolver path resolution end to end — including the standard ROS layout that only loads with assetDirectory ✔ — geometry primitives and ray picking (surface-point round trip, how click drift grows with the window, the compositor-vs-layout viewport mismatch) ✔, and the default SceneGraph with its selection contract ✔; RobotState FK pending.
• (optional) An additional non-Silk render backend.

8. License

MIT — see LICENSE. The three library packages declare it with the SPDX expression MIT in Directory.Build.props, so dotnet pack output states its terms without needing a license file inside the package; a copy of LICENSE is packed alongside the README anyway.

This covers this repository's own source only. Bundled test data keeps its own terms — the urdf_tutorial sample under Assets/Models/ is BSD-3-Clause, as recorded in the per-folder READMEs and docs/testing/en.md.