In this page you can download some animations showing the main features of CHRONO::ENGINE.

Note: most animations have been computed with the CHRONO plugin for the rendering software Realsoft3D. (This plugin, based on the CHRONO::ENGINE kernel, allows an easy creation of mechanisms via an intuitive graphical user interface, also exploiting the advanced rendering features of Realsoft3D).

Most animations have been computed in real-time (except for the rendering time, if using the high-quality raytracing of the host Realsoft3D).

NOTE: YOU NEED THE DIVX CODEC TO SEE THESE AVI FILES. If you do not have DivX installed, you can download it here.

A spider robot Simulation of a walking robot. This robot is made of 36 moving parts, for the mechanisms of the six legs. The six legs are actuated by 12 motors (6 rotational motors and 6 linear motors), each controlled with ChFunction objects representing motion laws. Collision detection is used for the feet/ground contacts .

The GRANIT robot Simulation of the GRANIT robot. This automated device has been studied with CHRONO::ENGINE in order to optimize the dynamical performance, then it has been built (hardware design by A.Tasora / controller design by P.Righettini, 2005). Rendering in Realsoft3D, modeling in SolidEdge.

A tenoning machine Simulation of a parallel-kinematics robot with 5 degrees of freedom, aimed at the 'tenoning' process (wood milling). The CHRONO::R3D plugin has been used to study the kinematical properties of this device.

A 6-DOF robot Simulation of articulated robots, following straight trajectories in space. The CHRONO::R3D plugin has been used to compute the inverse kinematics of the robots.

Falling boxes This animation shows how CHRONO::ENGINE can handle multiple contacts between stacking bodies with friction. Our HyperOCTANT technology can solve the non-linear complementarity problem in few milliseconds: about 1000 times faster than using the classical Dantzig/Lemke simplex method.

Collisions A sphere collides with some buildings, causing a chain-effect... This animation shows how CHRONO::ENGINE handles many types of contacts and collisions, avoiding interpenetration. Also, a spherical joint is used too (see the swinging pendulum).

Destruction Animation showing a low-motion destruction of brick-made walls (friction and gravity are not simulated).

Floor explosion Animation showing a large object colliding with tiled blocks. Our HyperOCTANT technology is used to solve the non-linear complementarity problem (LCP) using a fast iterative method.

Sphere cascade Animation showing 100 spheres falling onto an oddly-shaped static mesh. This simulation was used as a benchmark: our HyperOCTANT solver performed very well, solving the mixed NLCP problems with almost one thousand of unknowns in real time.

A shaker Simulation of a shaker, filled with 1000 spheres, which vibrates thank to an articulated mechanism. This is a part of a longer analysis which has been used to study a phenomenon called vibration-induced size-segregation. This demonstrates that Chrono::Engine can deal with a large number of colliding objects.

A sci-fi umbrella.. Dynamical simulation of a complex mechanical device. This umbrella-shaped mechanisms opens thank to an hidden spring-damper system.

The Watt tachymeter Dynamical simulation of the famous Watt tachimeter: the more the angular velocity grows, the more the articulated mechanism opens and lifts a regulating rod (it can be used to control a motor by feedback). This simulation has been successfully used to validate the precision of CHRONO::ENGINE : in fact numerical results match those coming from analytical formulas.

Bike running on stone slabs Dynamical simulation of a bike running on an uneven pavement. The ragdoll has been built using a wizard in CHRONO::R3D, which builds a dummy according to the antropometric data of the 'Winter man model'.

Two-stages epicicloidal reducer Kinematic simulation of the inner part of a two-stages epicicloidal reducer. Note that CHRONO::ENGINE could also simulate also bevel-gears.

Four-bar linkage Dynamical simulation of a typical four-bar linkage. The shaft rotates thank to a motor model. CHRONO::ENGINE here simulates also a digital controller with resolver feedback, which tries to keep the motor speed as constant as possible. Moreover, a revolute joint exploit some backlash. Reaction forces and vibrations have been outputted and studied.

Granular flow Simulation of 15000 spheres falling into a container, where a rotating mixer is spinning on the vertical axis. More than 35'000 contact points are created, leading to a complementarity problem with more than 100'000 unknowns for each step. The animation shows the OpenGL viewer for the Chrono::Engine.

Massive granular flow Benchmark for bidisperse granular flow: 36'000 spheres falling into a pebble-bed reactor and exiting from the funnell. A very large complementarity problem with hundreds of thousands of unknowns is solved at each step, up to 11s of simulation. [Note: large file: 10Mb DivX]

Chrono::Engine demo reel This is a longer demo reel (2min), showing the main features of the Chrono::Engine features. Note that some parts of this demo reel are already available as shorter animations downloadable in this page. Also note that the download may take a bit, since the file size is huge (26 Mb!).