[simspark-devel] Help: Try to use other effectors/perceptors than Hinge- and Universal-Joints

[Stefan G. <gla...@gm...>]

Hello,

I'm trying to use SimSpark as a simulator for a student project at my 
university. In this project we want to model some more complex physical 
bodies and develop some behaviors to it.

I'm well informed about anything related to the RCSoccer simulation. I 
know its perceptors, effectors, its values and also something about the 
configs and the .rsg files in general.

The point I'm struggling with is that we want to use other joints 
provided by ode than just Hinge- and Universal-Joints, e.g. Ball-Joints 
and Slider-Joints. I tried to study the source code for a while and 
realized that on the one hand I can find the corresponding definitions 
in the "odeimps" folder, but I'm not able yet to find anything about 
sensing or manipulating these kind of joints in the code.
I also wonder if it is possible to specify cyclic connected body parts. 
For example think of a digger (earth mover) that has a stretchable arm 
configuration with a passive hinge joint and a hydraulic cylinder 
connected by two further passive hinge joints applying the force to move 
the configuration. Is such a configuration currently possible?

I'm still not really familiar with the SimSpark source code, maybe 
someone can give me a pointer on where to look, or where I can get 
information about other joints available in the simulator.

Thanks,
Stafan Glaser