I attach some links to some videos to see what they think about this type of simulation with the FlexSim simulation. For example, if it is possible to do that? How to develop it? etc.
What do you think about the following links (physics) in FlexSim?
FlexSim 17.2.2
Your links point to some nice examples of mechanical and physics simulations.
FlexSim is a discrete event simulation software. It does not include the same sort of functionality such as physics and mechanical interactions. FlexSim excels at taking a big picture look at a whole facility, system, or process, where machines like this are abstracted into their process times, break down rates, schedules, etc.
In a discrete event simulator like FlexSim, by simplifying the physics and mechanical aspects of equipment into process times, etc, you can build simulations with thousands of machines or process steps. You can then run these models faster than real time in order to get results from hundreds or thousands of replications.
The computational load required to produce realistic physics simulations limits the scale and complexity of such a model, and given the power of today's desktop computers is not realistic for modeling an entire facility or system. Notice that in each of the example videos, the total number of interactions are quite small. You are never looking at more than one or two machines at a time.
So to sum up, your links represent a totally different field of simulation than what FlexSim is built for. You could use such a product to determine process times and other stats for individual pieces of equipment, which stats could then be imported into a discrete event simulator like FlexSim, but it is unlikely that you could use such a physics simulator to model an entire warehouse, factory, packing operation, etc.
Having said all that, FlexSim lets you custom code anything you want, including linking to external DLLs, so you really could create a module to do anything you want. The sky's the limit!
But this is not what our business focuses on, so you won't see FlexSim integrating these sorts of features anytime soon.
Ben,
Are there any plans to integrate physics engine in Flexsim in the future? It would be great to have discrete-event and physics simulations in the same software. I understand the CPU cost but maybe the physics feature can be an option where you can turn on and off based on the application.
Thanks
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