CRESSim-Neo Documentation#
CRESSim-Neo is a GPU-accelerated position-based dynamics (PBD) simulation engine for surgical robotics and robot learning. It combines position-based simulation of rigid bodies, deformable tissues, fluids, and strands with batched rendering, surgery-specific sensing, and a GPU-resident data pipeline. The engine supports applications including tissue manipulation, fluid suction, suturing, cable-driven robots, and ultrasound image synthesis.
CRESSim-Neo supports Linux, Windows, and macOS. Vulkan is the standard graphics backend, and Direct3D 12 is also available on Windows. On macOS, Vulkan is provided through MoltenVK; platform validation remains limited.
The engine is intended as a foundational simulation engine on which surgical scenes and applications can be built. Its C++ API is the primary interface, while the Python bindings expose the same runtime model for applications and learning workflows. Direct access to physics and rendering buffers supports custom GPU computation and, when CUDA interop is enabled, zero-copy PyTorch integration using DLPack.
Note
CRESSim-Neo was developed at the Telerobotic and Biorobotic Systems (TBS) Group at the University of Alberta.
Warning
Coding agents assisted with the development of this project. Exercise care when using, reviewing, or modifying it. It is provided “AS IS,” without warranty of any kind; see the Apache 2.0 License, including its disclaimer of warranty and limitation of liability.
The runtime has two phases: scene authoring and frame stepping. You configure a scene through the C++ or Python API, prepare and upload its GPU layout, then step physics, simulation sensors, visual sensors, and optional custom compute passes. These stages make synchronization boundaries explicit and allow custom GPU computations to be interleaved with simulation.
Start with Getting Started to build the C++ SDK or install the Python bindings. Read the User Guide for the runtime model and scene-authoring workflow. The Developer Guide covers contributions, releases, and compliance. Use the API Reference for complete interface details.