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This paper enhances the Stonefish simulator by integrating advanced hydrodynamic models and sensor disturbances to improve the realism of deep-sea robotics simulations. The focus on physical and sensor fidelity addresses the limitations of existing simulators that prioritize visual realism, which is less applicable to deep-water environments. The resulting framework supports real-time simulation and offers a more accurate representation of the forces affecting autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) and other deep-sea robotics, paving the way for improved navigation and autonomy in challenging conditions.
Realism in deep-sea robotics simulations just got a major upgrade, bridging the gap between visual fidelity and physical accuracy.
Many recent underwater simulators emphasize visual realism at the expense of physical fidelity, focusing on shallow-water effects with limited relevance in deep-water environments and high computational cost. In this work, we shift the focus toward deep-sea physical and sensor realism. We present a physics- and sensor-grounded extension of the Stonefish simulator that augments its hydrodynamic models with stochastic IMU and DVL drift, magnetometer disturbances, higher-order hydrodynamics, terramechanics, pressure-driven environmental variability, and physically based underwater optics. These additions are designed to better capture the forces and measurements shaping the behavior of deep-ocean AUVs, ROVs, landers, ASVs, and gliders, while remaining compatible with real-time simulation. This work advances underwater simulation toward more representative deep-sea operating conditions, which is particularly relevant for long-duration navigation and learning-based autonomy, where inaccurate sensor and environmental models introduce non-physical artifacts and overly optimistic performance. While challenges remain, including complex fluid-structure interactions and full environmental stochasticity, the proposed framework provides a practical foundation for navigation, perception, and autonomy research under deep-sea conditions.
