{"ID":2843628,"CreatedAt":"2026-06-01T04:54:23.091178241Z","UpdatedAt":"2026-06-01T04:54:23.091178241Z","DeletedAt":null,"paper_url":"https://arxiv.org/abs/2511.08771","arxiv_id":"2511.08771","title":"CENIC: Convex Error-controlled Numerical Integration for Contact","abstract":"State-of-the-art robotics simulators operate in discrete time. This requires users to choose a time step, which is both critical and challenging: large steps can produce non-physical artifacts, while small steps force the simulation to run slowly. Continuous-time error-controlled integration avoids such issues by automatically adjusting the time step to achieve a desired accuracy. But existing error-controlled integrators struggle with the stiff dynamics of contact, and cannot meet the speed and scalability requirements of modern robotics workflows. We introduce CENIC, a new continuous-time integrator that brings together recent advances in convex time-stepping and error-controlled integration, inheriting benefits from both continuous integration and discrete time-stepping. CENIC runs at fast real-time rates comparable to discrete-time robotics simulators like MuJoCo, Drake and Isaac Sim, while also providing guarantees on accuracy and convergence.","short_abstract":"State-of-the-art robotics simulators operate in discrete time. This requires users to choose a time step, which is both critical and challenging: large steps can produce non-physical artifacts, while small steps force the simulation to run slowly. Continuous-time error-controlled integration avoids such issues by autom...","url_abs":"https://arxiv.org/abs/2511.08771","url_pdf":"https://arxiv.org/pdf/2511.08771v1","authors":"[\"Vince Kurtz\",\"Alejandro Castro\"]","published":"2025-11-11T20:51:26Z","proceeding":"cs.RO","tasks":"[\"cs.RO\",\"cs.CE\",\"physics.comp-ph\"]","methods":"[]","has_code":false}