We present a comparison of five freely available physics engines with specific focus on robotic assembly simulation in virtual reality (VR) environments. The aim was to evaluate the engines with generic settings and minimum parameter tweaking. Our benchmarks consider the minimum collision detection time for a large number of objects, restitution characteristics, as well as constraint reliability and body interpenetration. A further benchmark tests the simulation of a screw and nut mechanism made of rigid-bodies only, without any analytic approximation. Our results show large deviations across the tested engines and reveal benefits and disadvantages that help in selecting the appropriate physics engine for assembly simulations in VR.

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