Underwater Robotic Simulators Review for Autonomous System Development

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Aldhaheri, Sara, Hu, Yang, Xie, Yongchang, Wu, Peng, Kanoulas, Dimitrios, Liu, Yuanchang
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
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author Aldhaheri, Sara
Hu, Yang
Xie, Yongchang
Wu, Peng
Kanoulas, Dimitrios
Liu, Yuanchang
author_facet Aldhaheri, Sara
Hu, Yang
Xie, Yongchang
Wu, Peng
Kanoulas, Dimitrios
Liu, Yuanchang
contents The increasing complexity of underwater robotic systems has led to a surge in simulation platforms designed to support perception, planning, and control tasks in marine environments. However, selecting the most appropriate underwater robotic simulator (URS) remains a challenge due to wide variations in fidelity, extensibility, and task suitability. This paper presents a comprehensive review and comparative analysis of five state-of-the-art, ROS-compatible, open-source URSs: Stonefish, DAVE, HoloOcean, MARUS, and UNav-Sim. Each simulator is evaluated across multiple criteria including sensor fidelity, environmental realism, sim-to-real capabilities, and research impact. We evaluate them across architectural design, sensor and physics modeling, task capabilities, and research impact. Additionally, we discuss ongoing challenges in sim-to-real transfer and highlight the need for standardization and benchmarking in the field. Our findings aim to guide practitioners in selecting effective simulation environments and inform future development of more robust and transferable URSs.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2504_06245
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Underwater Robotic Simulators Review for Autonomous System Development
Aldhaheri, Sara
Hu, Yang
Xie, Yongchang
Wu, Peng
Kanoulas, Dimitrios
Liu, Yuanchang
Robotics
The increasing complexity of underwater robotic systems has led to a surge in simulation platforms designed to support perception, planning, and control tasks in marine environments. However, selecting the most appropriate underwater robotic simulator (URS) remains a challenge due to wide variations in fidelity, extensibility, and task suitability. This paper presents a comprehensive review and comparative analysis of five state-of-the-art, ROS-compatible, open-source URSs: Stonefish, DAVE, HoloOcean, MARUS, and UNav-Sim. Each simulator is evaluated across multiple criteria including sensor fidelity, environmental realism, sim-to-real capabilities, and research impact. We evaluate them across architectural design, sensor and physics modeling, task capabilities, and research impact. Additionally, we discuss ongoing challenges in sim-to-real transfer and highlight the need for standardization and benchmarking in the field. Our findings aim to guide practitioners in selecting effective simulation environments and inform future development of more robust and transferable URSs.
title Underwater Robotic Simulators Review for Autonomous System Development
topic Robotics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2504.06245