Digital Physics

The course deals with the computational science and engineering behind virtual 3D environments and simulators of cyber-physical systems, including vehicles, robots and biomechanical systems. The course uses time-discrete mechanics for rigid and flexible multibodies with articulation joints and contacts, physics-based modeling of sensors and actuators, as well as high-performance numerical algorithms and solvers for integrating digital physics with other software for analysis, testing, control and optimization. The course covers techniques for automated model calibration based on experimental data as well as generation of synthetic test and training data to critically analyze the capabilities and limitations of the simulated system and for deep learning. In the practical part of the course, a physics engine is used to create a full system simulator of a mechatronic system from CAD model, technical specifications, and experimental data. Using the simulator output, the system's control algorithms or design is improved.