ThreeDWorld: A Platform for Interactive Multi-Modal Physical Simulation
This provides a tool for researchers in AI, computer vision, and cognitive science to simulate complex physical interactions, though it is incremental as it builds on existing simulation platforms.
The researchers tackled the need for a platform for interactive multi-modal physical simulation by introducing ThreeDWorld (TDW), which enables high-fidelity sensory data simulation and physical interactions in 3D environments, with initial experiments applied to areas like computer vision and cognitive science.
We introduce ThreeDWorld (TDW), a platform for interactive multi-modal physical simulation. TDW enables simulation of high-fidelity sensory data and physical interactions between mobile agents and objects in rich 3D environments. Unique properties include: real-time near-photo-realistic image rendering; a library of objects and environments, and routines for their customization; generative procedures for efficiently building classes of new environments; high-fidelity audio rendering; realistic physical interactions for a variety of material types, including cloths, liquid, and deformable objects; customizable agents that embody AI agents; and support for human interactions with VR devices. TDW's API enables multiple agents to interact within a simulation and returns a range of sensor and physics data representing the state of the world. We present initial experiments enabled by TDW in emerging research directions in computer vision, machine learning, and cognitive science, including multi-modal physical scene understanding, physical dynamics predictions, multi-agent interactions, models that learn like a child, and attention studies in humans and neural networks.