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can I run gazebo faster than real time?

I found some questions on this site where people are trying to get Gazebo to run faster, but in most cases they just want it to run at real time speed. What if I want to simulate a robot at 10 times or 100 times real-time speed? Is that even possible with Gazebo?

Asked by Kurt Leucht on 2014-09-08 12:53:27 UTC

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Answers

The real_time_update_rate parameter determines the rate at which physics updates are taken. In conjunction with max_step_size parameter, the expected real-time factor can be determined. These parameters can be set via the gzclient gui or inside of world files (see friction_demo.world for an example).

To make the physics updates go as fast as possible, set the real_time_update_rate parameter to 0.0, and <joke>make sure the Turbo button is set to On</joke>.

An empty world goes over 200x real-time on my desktop. Inserting a double_pendulum_with_base model brings it down to about 20x.

Asked by scpeters on 2014-09-08 19:18:04 UTC

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Thanks! Will it go even faster if the gazebo GUI isn't launched?

Asked by Kurt Leucht on 2014-09-10 07:19:36 UTC

I just did a quick test, and the GUI appeared to slow the simulation by about 10-15%. ~~~gzserver --verbose; gz physics -u 0; gz stats~~~ and then optionally ~~~gzclient~~~ in a separate terminal.

Asked by scpeters on 2014-09-10 11:43:33 UTC

Thanks for testing it and posting the results!

Asked by Kurt Leucht on 2014-09-22 12:50:21 UTC