A passive integration strategy for rendering rotational rigid-body dynamics on a robotic simulator

This paper proposes a passive and explicit integrator for simulating a rotational rigid-body dynamics rendered by a robot. Considering the Euler integration method, active energy terms are identified. These sources of energy are due to the external torque and the coupled dynamics which can lead to a non-physical behavior of the simulated dynamics. The proposed method dissipates this energy using a variable damper regulated by an energy observer. The new algorithm guarantees not only passivity but also a consistent energetic integration. The integration method is sustained by simulations and tested on a real-time hardware-in-the-loop simulator.