simscape.multibody.Component Class

Namespace: simscape.multibody

Abstract base class for components

Since R2022a

Description

simscape.multibody.Component is the abstract base class for components. The Component class contains subclasses that model the different parts of a multibody system, such as simscape.multibody.Joint and simscape.multibody.Multibody. To model a robotic arm, for example, you can use simscape.multibody.RigidBody objects to construct the physical parts, such as the gripper and wrist, then link the parts with revolute joints constructed by using simscape.multibody.RevoluteJoint objects. See the More About section for more details of the Component class.

Class Attributes

Abstract	true
RestrictsSubclassing	true

For information on class attributes, see Class Attributes.

Properties

FrameConnectors — Names of frame connectors in component object

N-by-1 string array

Names of the frame connectors in a component object, returned as a string array. Every connector has a unique name. See the Connectors section for more information about connectors.

Attributes:

GetAccess	public
SetAccess	Restricts access
NonCopyable	true

DoVisualize — Whether to turn on visual representation of component object

true | false

Whether to turn on the visual representation of a component object, specified as true or false. A true value enables the visualization of the component object. See the Visualization section for more information.

Attributes:

GetAccess	public
SetAccess	public
NonCopyable	true

More About

Connectors

Component objects use connectors to connect to each other. For example, in a simscape.multibody.Multibody object, you can attach a simscape.multibody.Solid object to the simscape.multibody.WorldFrame object by connecting the R connector of the Solid object to the W connector of the WorldFrame object.

Component objects only support frame connectors. A frame connector represents a 3-D, right-handed, orthogonal coordinate frame in a component object. Connecting frame connectors from different component objects identifies the frames in a kinematic structure. In other words, the frames become coincident and aligned during the simulation.

Most types of component objects, such as simscape.multibody.WorldFrame and simscape.multibody.RigidTransform, have a fixed set of frame connectors, and the connectors are not changeable. However, because the simscape.multibody.RigidBody and simscape.multibody.Multibody objects initially have no connectors by default, you need to explicitly add connectors. Note that, in a component object, every connector must have a unique name. The table shows the frame connectors for component objects:

Component Objects	Connector Name	Definition
simscape.multibody.WorldFrame	"W"	World frame
simscape.multibody.RigidTransform	"B"	Base frame
	"F"	Follower frame
simscape.multibody.Joint	"B"	Base frame
	"F"	Follower frame
simscape.multibody.Solid	"R"	Reference frame
simscape.multibody.RigidBody	User-defined name	A name that is user defined
simscape.multibody.Multibody	User-defined name	A name that is user defined

Visualization

The visualize method of a simscape.multibody.CompiledMultibody object allows you to visualize a 3-D graphical representation of the corresponding simscape.multibody.Multibody object. Component objects have a DoVisualize property that specifies whether a component object should be visualized in the 3-D graphical representation. If the property is true, the component object is visualized, otherwise the object is hidden. In a hierarchical Multibody or RigidBody object, the DoVisualize property of the top-level object controls the visualization of the component objects inside the top-level object. If the DoVisualize property is false, the component objects contained by the object are hidden.

Only three types of component objects support visualization: simscape.multibody.Solid, simscape.multibody.RigidBody, and simscape.multibody.Multibody. The default value of the DoVisualize property is true for these objects. For the other types of component objects, the default value of the DoVisualize property is false, and attempting to set the property to true generates an error.

Version History

Introduced in R2022a