{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,8]],"date-time":"2026-06-08T10:17:35Z","timestamp":1780913855185,"version":"3.54.1"},"reference-count":66,"publisher":"Frontiers Media SA","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,2,18]],"date-time":"2026-02-18T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1771372800000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["frontiersin.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Front. Robot. AI"],"abstract":"<jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Introduction<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>This paper presents SimNav-XR, an extended reality platform that integrates XR technologies with modern robotics frameworks to support mobile robot simulation and development.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Methods<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>By connecting ROS2\u2019s communication infrastructure with Unity3D\u2019s rendering and XR capabilities through the ROS-TCP-Connector package, SimNav-XR provides a practical bridge between robotics middleware and game engine environments for visualization and testing. The platform implements components for physics-based robot modeling, LiDAR and IMU sensor simulation, environmental interaction dynamics, and XR interfaces supporting both Virtual Reality (VR) and Mixed Reality (MR) modes. These capabilities create interactive environments where developers can visualize and control simulated robots through immersive interfaces using the Meta Quest 3 headset with controller-based input.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Results<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>Experimental evaluations using established platforms (Turtlebot3 and ROSbotXL) demonstrate the framework\u2019s capabilities across virtual testing scenarios, showing successful autonomous navigation with obstacle avoidance and simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM). The VR mode provides fully immersive virtual environments for development and testing, while the MR mode uses passthrough cameras to overlay virtual robots onto real-world surfaces via plane detection.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Discussion<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>XR visualization techniques provide insights into robot sensor data and navigation behavior, supporting robotics development and education through accessible simulation environments.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.3389\/frobt.2026.1708161","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,2,18]],"date-time":"2026-02-18T09:56:07Z","timestamp":1771408567000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":1,"title":["SimNav-XR: an extended reality platform for mobile robot simulation using ROS2 and Unity3D"],"prefix":"10.3389","volume":"13","author":[{"given":"Prakash","family":"Aryan","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Institute of Computer Science, University of Bern","place":["Bern, Switzerland"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Sujala Deepak","family":"Shetty","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Computer Science, Birla Institute of Technology and Science, Pilani, Dubai Campus, Dubai International Academic City","place":["Dubai, United Arab Emirates"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"V.","family":"Kalaichelvi","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering, Birla Institute of Technology and Science, Pilani, Dubai Campus, Dubai International Academic City","place":["Dubai, United Arab Emirates"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"R.","family":"Karthikeyan","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Mechanical Engineering, Birla Institute of Technology and Science, Pilani, Dubai Campus, Dubai International Academic City","place":["Dubai, United Arab Emirates"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1965","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,2,18]]},"reference":[{"key":"B1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"392","DOI":"10.1111\/mice.13337","article-title":"Virtual reality-based dynamic scene recreation and robot teleoperation for hazardous environments","volume":"40","author":"Bavelos","year":"2025","journal-title":"Computer-Aided Civ. 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