# LOTUSim: Multi-Domain Simulator for Marine Robotics

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2607.03072 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2607.03072/

## Key facts

- Cited by 1 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- First posted on arXiv 3 Jul 2026.

## Built on by (most cited first, 1 of 1)

- [Towards Scaling Marine Perception with Synthetic Data](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2609.20680/) (2026)

## Abstract (arXiv)

Simulation is essential for maritime robotics, supporting operator training, mission rehearsal, and human-vehicle interaction in environments where real-world testing is costly or hazardous. Existing simulators focus primarily on autonomy systems and often lack human-in-the-loop interaction and realistic environmental physics. This paper introduces LOTUSim, an open-source, real-time maritime simulator supporting multi-user interaction across aerial, surface, and underwater robotic systems for coordinated naval-style operations. The first contribution of this work is enabling real-time interactive performance for users while ensuring scalability to large fleets operating within a shared interactive simulation environment. Validation demonstrates robust human-in-the-loop performance, maintaining strict real-time execution and high visual fidelity while scaling to large heterogeneous maritime drone swarms. The second contribution is a computationally efficient, Ekman-inspired layered, underwater current model that captures wind-driven, depth-dependent flow dynamics with sufficient physical fidelity for large-scale simulations. Validation against ocean reanalysis data demonstrates substantially improved accuracy compared to commonly used stochastic Gauss-Markov current models. These results confirm LOTUSim's suitability as a simulation platform for operatorin-the-loop maritime robotics research.