I'm using Pymunk to simulate the physics of a box mounted on a pivot on top of a slender leg, which is attached to the ground. The pivot connecting the box to the leg is a combination of a PivotJoint and a SimpleMotor, simulating a primitive servo, that the user can turn on and off to shift the box's center of mass over the leg. The following is my Pymunk+Pygame code implementing this model:
from __future__ import print_function
import sys
from math import pi
import pygame
from pygame.locals import USEREVENT, QUIT, KEYDOWN, KEYUP, K_s, K_r, K_q, K_ESCAPE, K_UP, K_DOWN
from pygame.color import THECOLORS
import pymunk
from pymunk import Vec2d
import pymunk.pygame_util
LEG_GROUP = 1
class Simulator(object):
def __init__(self):
self.display_flags = 0
self.display_size = (600, 600)
self.space = pymunk.Space()
self.space.gravity = (0.0, -1900.0)
self.space.damping = 0.999 # to prevent it from blowing up.
# Pymunk physics coordinates start from the lower right-hand corner of the screen.
self.ground_y = 100
ground = pymunk.Segment(self.space.static_body, (5, self.ground_y), (595, self.ground_y), 1.0)
ground.friction = 1.0
self.space.add(ground)
self.screen = None
self.draw_options = None
def reset_bodies(self):
for body in self.space.bodies:
if not hasattr(body, 'start_position'):
continue
body.position = Vec2d(body.start_position)
body.force = 0, 0
body.torque = 0
body.velocity = 0, 0
body.angular_velocity = 0
body.angle = body.start_angle
def draw(self):
### Clear the screen
self.screen.fill(THECOLORS["white"])
### Draw space
self.space.debug_draw(self.draw_options)
### All done, lets flip the display
pygame.display.flip()
def main(self):
pygame.init()
self.screen = pygame.display.set_mode(self.display_size, self.display_flags)
width, height = self.screen.get_size()
self.draw_options = pymunk.pygame_util.DrawOptions(self.screen)
def to_pygame(p):
"""Small hack to convert pymunk to pygame coordinates"""
return int(p.x), int(-p.y+height)
def from_pygame(p):
return to_pygame(p)
clock = pygame.time.Clock()
running = True
font = pygame.font.Font(None, 16)
# Create the torso box.
box_width = 50
box_height = 100
leg_length = 100
leg_thickness = 2
mass = 200
points = [(-box_width/2, -box_height/2), (-box_width/2, box_height/2), (box_width/2, box_height/2), (box_width/2, -box_height/2)]
moment = pymunk.moment_for_poly(mass, points)
body1 = pymunk.Body(mass, moment)
body1.position = (self.display_size[0]/2, self.ground_y+box_height/2+leg_length)
body1.start_position = Vec2d(body1.position)
body1.start_angle = body1.angle
shape1 = pymunk.Poly(body1, points)
shape1.group = LEG_GROUP
shape1.friction = 0.8
shape1.elasticity = 0.0
self.space.add(body1, shape1)
# Create bar 2 extending from the right to the origin.
mass = 10
points = [
(leg_thickness/2, -leg_length/2),
(-leg_thickness/2, -leg_length/2),
(-leg_thickness/2, leg_length/2-leg_thickness),
(leg_thickness/2, leg_length/2-leg_thickness/2)
]
moment = pymunk.moment_for_poly(mass, points)
body2 = pymunk.Body(mass, moment)
body2.position = (self.display_size[0]/2-box_width/2, self.ground_y+leg_length/2)
body2.start_position = Vec2d(body2.position)
body2.start_angle = body2.angle
shape2 = pymunk.Poly(body2, points)
shape2.group = LEG_GROUP
shape2.friction = 0.8
shape2.elasticity = 0.0
self.space.add(body2, shape2)
# Link bars together at end.
pj = pymunk.PivotJoint(body1, body2, (self.display_size[0]/2-box_width/2, self.ground_y+leg_length-leg_thickness))
self.space.add(pj)
# Attach the foot to the ground in a fixed position.
pj = pymunk.PivotJoint(self.space.static_body, body2, (self.display_size[0]/2-box_width/2, self.ground_y+leg_thickness))
self.space.add(pj)
# Actuate the bars via a motor.
motor_joint = pymunk.SimpleMotor(body1, body2, 0)
self.space.add(motor_joint)
# Add hard stops to leg pivot so the torso can't rotate through leg.
hip_limit_joint = pymunk.RotaryLimitJoint(body1, body2, -pi/4., pi/4.) # -45deg:+45deg
self.space.add(hip_limit_joint)
pygame.time.set_timer(USEREVENT+1, 70000) # apply force
pygame.time.set_timer(USEREVENT+2, 120000) # reset
pygame.event.post(pygame.event.Event(USEREVENT+1))
pygame.mouse.set_visible(False)
simulate = False
while running:
# print('angles:', body1.angle, body2.angle)
servo_angle = (body1.angle - body2.angle) * 180/pi # 0 degrees means leg is angled straight down
servo_cw_enabled = servo_angle > -45
servo_ccw_enabled = servo_angle < 45
for event in pygame.event.get():
if event.type == QUIT or (event.type == KEYDOWN and event.key in (K_q, K_ESCAPE)):
#running = False
sys.exit(0)
elif event.type == KEYDOWN and event.key == K_s:
# Start/stop simulation.
simulate = not simulate
elif event.type == KEYDOWN and event.key == K_r:
# Reset.
# simulate = False
self.reset_bodies()
elif event.type == KEYDOWN and event.key == K_UP:
if servo_ccw_enabled:
motor_joint.rate = 5
else:
motor_joint.rate = 0
elif event.type == KEYDOWN and event.key == K_DOWN:
if servo_cw_enabled:
motor_joint.rate = -5
else:
motor_joint.rate = 0
elif event.type == KEYUP:
motor_joint.rate = 0
self.draw()
### Update physics
fps = 50
iterations = 25
dt = 1.0/float(fps)/float(iterations)
if simulate:
for x in range(iterations): # 10 iterations to get a more stable simulation
self.space.step(dt)
pygame.display.flip()
clock.tick(fps)
if __name__ == '__main__':
sim = Simulator()
sim.main()
You begin the simulation by pressing "s" and then use the up/down keys to rotate the box about the leg. It mostly behaves as expected...until it touches the ground, and then it begins to "bounce" violently. See this screen capture for an example.
How do I stop this? I've made the box very heavy by giving it a lot of mass, and I've set the elasticity of everything to 0. The docs mention things might be bouncy or squishy if you use less than 10 iterations per update, but I'm using 25. What else am I missing?
