Will Simulation Remain a Major Tool in Robotics?

Determine whether high-fidelity simulation will remain a major tool for robotics development given persistent challenges associated with the reality gap—that is, the discrepancies between simulated and real environments that hinder sim-to-real transfer.

Background

The survey emphasizes that simulation has driven many advances in robot learning by enabling scalable training and testing, but persistent discrepancies between simulated and real environments—termed the reality gap—continue to limit reliable transfer. Despite successes across manipulation, locomotion, and navigation, the authors question the long-term centrality of simulation in robotics workflows given these unresolved issues.

This open question frames the broader discussion on whether progress in bridging the reality gap will be sufficient to sustain simulation as a primary development tool for robotics, or whether alternative paradigms will become more dominant.