Applies to v0.1.0.
Overview
Nano-sim is a Unity-based simulator for a small-scale RC car, built for Autonomous Driving research. It generates labelled sensor data, and trains and tests driving code in closed loop.
Release 0.1.0: the first public release. One thing to know before you download: the app is not code-signed, so your OS blocks it the first time you open it. The installation steps clear that in a click.
Login Info
The app opens on a login screen (the licence check). For this release both fields are the same word:
- License ID
nanosim- Access Key
nanosim
Synthetic sensors
Every run can emit labelled sensor streams that mirror the real bench:
- Camera
- RGB, semantic segmentation, and depth.
- LiDAR
- 2D and 3D point clouds.
- GNSS & IMU
- Position and motion.
Getting started
New here? Follow this path in order. Each step links to its page:
- Install & run
- Download the app, pick a map and vehicle, and launch it. This starts the simulator and its Python API.
- Set up Python
- Create the environment (a venv) for the API and tools.
- Drive it
- Connect over the Python API or ROS, and read Vehicle control for the units and sign conventions both of them use.
- Collect data
- Build a labelled segmentation dataset and validate it.
What you'll see
The app is three screens, in the order you meet them:
- Launcher
- The small window the app opens in. Sign in with the login info above, then press Simulate. A progress bar fills while the simulation loads, then the window grows.
- Configuration
- Pick the map and vehicle. Today the choices are IROC Track and the 1/10 Platform.
- Simulation
- The car on the track. The panels below live here.
The panels
Open each from the menu bar. They dock at the top-left and can be collapsed.
| Panel | What it does |
|---|---|
| Network | Start/stop the Python API (7720) and Foxglove (8765) servers; connect to rosbridge (9090). Nothing listens until you press Start. |
| Sensor Setup | Add sensors to the car, place them, enable per-camera streams. Each sensor's topic name is shown here. |
| Vehicle Setting | The car's speed and steering limits — changeable while the simulation runs. See Vehicle dynamics. |
| Ego Pose | Set or save/load the car's starting pose. |
| Init Sensor Setting | Save/load a whole sensor configuration. |
| Scenario | Save/load a scenario (pose + sensors together). |
| System Monitor | FPS, memory, and the hardware the sim is running on. |
Save/Load dialogs start in your home folder and remember the last folder you used. The three panels above share that memory, so pick a working folder once and they all follow.
Quitting
Press ⌘Q or click the window's close button. The app asks Quit Nano-sim?before it exits, so an accidental keypress won't lose your session. (The launcher quits without asking, since nothing is running there yet.)
On Linux, if a teleop script was attached and your terminal looks broken after the app closes, run reset.
Trademarks
VEYE and VEYE-MIPI-IMX462 are trademarks of their respective owner (VEYE IMAGING). IMX462 and STARVIS are product designations of Sony Group Corporation. RPLIDAR is a trademark of SLAMTEC. Velodyne is a trademark of its respective owner. All product names are used solely to identify the real hardware this simulator models. Nano-sim is an independent open-source project, not affiliated with, sponsored by, or endorsed by any of these companies.