dimforge/rapier
Rapier
Rapier is a cross-platform physics engine and rigid body dynamics solver designed for 2D and 3D simulations. It functions as a collision detection system and a robotics simulation framework, providing a consistent API for calculating physical interactions across different environments.
The engine distinguishes itself with specialized robotics capabilities, including a toolkit for importing URDF and STL models to control multibody chains. It supports precise mechanical movement through inverse kinematics calculations and the application of PID controllers for dynamic body control.
The simulation surface covers a broad range of physics capabilities, including kinematic character controllers for terrain traversal and ray-cast models for vehicle dynamics. It features a multi-phase collision pipeline with continuous collision detection to prevent object tunneling, as well as a system for jointed motion constraints using revolute, prismatic, and spherical joints.
The framework includes utilities for importing external geometric definitions via STL, URDF, and XML formats, and provides a backend-agnostic debug interface for visualizing internal physics states and 3D scenes.
