simulo.RayCaster

Virtual ray-casting sensor for terrain/environment scanning.

Uses GPU-accelerated ray-casting (via NVIDIA Warp) to measure distances to specified meshes. Commonly used as a height scanner for locomotion.

Attributes:

• pattern — Ray pattern configuration
• offset — Sensor offset relative to parent frame
• mesh_paths — List of mesh prim paths to cast rays against
• ray_alignment — How rays align (“yaw” or “none”)

Example:

import simulo

# Create height scanner
scanner = simulo.RayCaster(
    pattern=simulo.RayPattern(resolution=0.1, size=(1.6, 1.0)),
    offset=simulo.SensorOffset(pos=(0.0, 0.0, 20.0)),
    ray_alignment="yaw",
    mesh_paths=["/World/defaultGroundPlane"],
    debug_vis=True,
)

# Add to scene
scene.add(scanner, at="/World/Robot/base/height_scanner")

# Read data
hits = scanner.read_hits()        # (num_envs, num_rays, 3) xyz positions
distances = scanner.read_distances()  # (num_envs, num_rays)

simulo.RayCaster(
    path: Optional[str] = None,
    pattern: Optional[RayPattern] = None,
    offset: Optional[SensorOffset] = None,
    mesh_paths: Optional[List[str]] = None,
    ray_alignment: str = 'yaw',
    update_period: float = 0.02,
    enabled: bool = True,
    debug_vis: bool = False,
)

read_hits()

RayCaster.read_hits() -> torch.Tensor

Get ray hit positions in world frame.

Returns:

Hit positions tensor of shape (num_envs, num_rays, 3). Each row is (x, y, z) world position where ray hit mesh.

Raises:

• RuntimeError — If sensor not initialized

read_distances()

RayCaster.read_distances() -> torch.Tensor

Get distances from sensor to hit points.

Returns:

Distances tensor of shape (num_envs, num_rays). Values are float32 in meters.

Raises:

• RuntimeError — If sensor not initialized