Comparative Analysis of Unity and Gazebo Simulators for Digital Twins of Robotic Tomato Harvesting Scenarios

Juan Pablo Espejel Flores; Abdurrahman Yilmaz; Luis Arturo Soriano Avendaño; Grzegorz Cielniak

doi:10.1007/978-3-031-72059-8_2

Comparative Analysis of Unity and Gazebo Simulators for Digital Twins of Robotic Tomato Harvesting Scenarios

Juan Pablo Espejel Flores, Abdurrahman Yilmaz^*, Luis Arturo Soriano Avendaño, Grzegorz Cielniak

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference contribution › peer-review

1 Citation (Scopus)

Abstract

Robotic simulators play a crucial role in agricultural robotics research, enabling preliminary validations, digital twin experiments, and AI-based sim-to-real methodologies. However, creating realistic farming environments in simulators is challenging and often requires significant manual effort. This paper addresses this challenge by proposing a semi-automated method for creating realistic tomato farm environments compatible with two popular simulators Gazebo and Unity. We conduct a comparative analysis of these simulators in terms of visual fidelity and integration effort, with a focus on their compatibility with the ROS 2 framework. Our contributions include the development of a realistic and parameterisable digital twin of a tomato farm, a detailed comparative analysis of Gazebo and Unity frameworks, and the publication of open-source code integrated into ROS 2. Through our study, we identify limitations in current digital twins, such as their static nature and limited realism, and suggest future enhancements, including the integration of physics for improved fidelity and the deployment of robots for practical simulated tasks. Our findings provide valuable insights for researchers and practitioners in the field of agricultural robotics.

Original language	English
Title of host publication	Towards Autonomous Robotic Systems - 25th Annual Conference, TAROS 2024, Proceedings
Editors	M. Nazmul Huda, Mingfeng Wang, Tatiana Kalganova
Publisher	Springer Science and Business Media Deutschland GmbH
Pages	15-27
Number of pages	13
ISBN (Print)	9783031720581
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-72059-8_2
Publication status	Published - 2025
Externally published	Yes
Event	25th Annual Conference on Towards Autonomous Robotic Systems, TAROS 2024 - London, United Kingdom Duration: 21 Aug 2024 → 23 Aug 2024

Publication series

Name	Lecture Notes in Computer Science (including subseries Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence and Lecture Notes in Bioinformatics)
Volume	15051 LNAI
ISSN (Print)	0302-9743
ISSN (Electronic)	1611-3349

Conference

Conference	25th Annual Conference on Towards Autonomous Robotic Systems, TAROS 2024
Country/Territory	United Kingdom
City	London
Period	21/08/24 → 23/08/24

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2025.

Keywords

Agriculture
Field Robots
Gazebo
ROS 2
Tomato Glasshouse
Unity

Access to Document

10.1007/978-3-031-72059-8_2

Cite this

Espejel Flores, J. P., Yilmaz, A., Soriano Avendaño, L. A., & Cielniak, G. (2025). Comparative Analysis of Unity and Gazebo Simulators for Digital Twins of Robotic Tomato Harvesting Scenarios. In M. N. Huda, M. Wang, & T. Kalganova (Eds.), Towards Autonomous Robotic Systems - 25th Annual Conference, TAROS 2024, Proceedings (pp. 15-27). (Lecture Notes in Computer Science (including subseries Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence and Lecture Notes in Bioinformatics); Vol. 15051 LNAI). Springer Science and Business Media Deutschland GmbH. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-72059-8_2

Espejel Flores, Juan Pablo ; Yilmaz, Abdurrahman ; Soriano Avendaño, Luis Arturo et al. / Comparative Analysis of Unity and Gazebo Simulators for Digital Twins of Robotic Tomato Harvesting Scenarios. Towards Autonomous Robotic Systems - 25th Annual Conference, TAROS 2024, Proceedings. editor / M. Nazmul Huda ; Mingfeng Wang ; Tatiana Kalganova. Springer Science and Business Media Deutschland GmbH, 2025. pp. 15-27 (Lecture Notes in Computer Science (including subseries Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence and Lecture Notes in Bioinformatics)).

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title = "Comparative Analysis of Unity and Gazebo Simulators for Digital Twins of Robotic Tomato Harvesting Scenarios",

abstract = "Robotic simulators play a crucial role in agricultural robotics research, enabling preliminary validations, digital twin experiments, and AI-based sim-to-real methodologies. However, creating realistic farming environments in simulators is challenging and often requires significant manual effort. This paper addresses this challenge by proposing a semi-automated method for creating realistic tomato farm environments compatible with two popular simulators Gazebo and Unity. We conduct a comparative analysis of these simulators in terms of visual fidelity and integration effort, with a focus on their compatibility with the ROS 2 framework. Our contributions include the development of a realistic and parameterisable digital twin of a tomato farm, a detailed comparative analysis of Gazebo and Unity frameworks, and the publication of open-source code integrated into ROS 2. Through our study, we identify limitations in current digital twins, such as their static nature and limited realism, and suggest future enhancements, including the integration of physics for improved fidelity and the deployment of robots for practical simulated tasks. Our findings provide valuable insights for researchers and practitioners in the field of agricultural robotics.",

keywords = "Agriculture, Field Robots, Gazebo, ROS 2, Tomato Glasshouse, Unity",

author = "{Espejel Flores}, {Juan Pablo} and Abdurrahman Yilmaz and {Soriano Avenda{\~n}o}, {Luis Arturo} and Grzegorz Cielniak",

note = "Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2025.; 25th Annual Conference on Towards Autonomous Robotic Systems, TAROS 2024 ; Conference date: 21-08-2024 Through 23-08-2024",

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Espejel Flores, JP, Yilmaz, A, Soriano Avendaño, LA & Cielniak, G 2025, Comparative Analysis of Unity and Gazebo Simulators for Digital Twins of Robotic Tomato Harvesting Scenarios. in MN Huda, M Wang & T Kalganova (eds), Towards Autonomous Robotic Systems - 25th Annual Conference, TAROS 2024, Proceedings. Lecture Notes in Computer Science (including subseries Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence and Lecture Notes in Bioinformatics), vol. 15051 LNAI, Springer Science and Business Media Deutschland GmbH, pp. 15-27, 25th Annual Conference on Towards Autonomous Robotic Systems, TAROS 2024, London, United Kingdom, 21/08/24. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-72059-8_2

Comparative Analysis of Unity and Gazebo Simulators for Digital Twins of Robotic Tomato Harvesting Scenarios. / Espejel Flores, Juan Pablo; Yilmaz, Abdurrahman; Soriano Avendaño, Luis Arturo et al.
Towards Autonomous Robotic Systems - 25th Annual Conference, TAROS 2024, Proceedings. ed. / M. Nazmul Huda; Mingfeng Wang; Tatiana Kalganova. Springer Science and Business Media Deutschland GmbH, 2025. p. 15-27 (Lecture Notes in Computer Science (including subseries Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence and Lecture Notes in Bioinformatics); Vol. 15051 LNAI).

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference contribution › peer-review

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Espejel Flores JP, Yilmaz A, Soriano Avendaño LA, Cielniak G. Comparative Analysis of Unity and Gazebo Simulators for Digital Twins of Robotic Tomato Harvesting Scenarios. In Huda MN, Wang M, Kalganova T, editors, Towards Autonomous Robotic Systems - 25th Annual Conference, TAROS 2024, Proceedings. Springer Science and Business Media Deutschland GmbH. 2025. p. 15-27. (Lecture Notes in Computer Science (including subseries Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence and Lecture Notes in Bioinformatics)). doi: 10.1007/978-3-031-72059-8_2