mjorbit: A Simulation Framework for Space Robotics

2026-09-07

AI Summary

本文提出了一种基于MuJoCo引擎的通用框架mjorbit，用于模拟多体空间机器人及其接触问题，通过添加关键航天器动力学、执行器和传感器，并提供高性能计算后端来解决太空服务、组装和制造中的大规模机器人仿真问题。

Abstract

This paper presents a general framework for simulating multi-body space robots with contact. We bring efficient, large-scale robot simulation to in-space servicing, assembly, and manufacturing applications. First, we perform an empirical trade study of methods for coupling orbit propagation with existing robotics simulation frameworks. Next, we present mjorbit, a general, flexible, and performant framework built on the MuJoCo engine widely used in robotics, to which we add key spacecraft dynamics, actuators, and sensors. We provide a low-latency C++ CPU backend and a high-throughput GPU backend behind a simple Python API. We demonstrate mjorbit by solving several realistic on-orbit case studies with both model-predictive control and reinforcement learning. Open-source code and examples are available at: https://johnzhang3.github.io/mjorbit/

Problem

• space robotics
• simulation framework
• orbit propagation

Innovation

• multi-body space robots
• orbit propagation
• MuJoCo engine
• low-latency C++ CPU backend
• high-throughput GPU backend