Real-Time Physics Simulation Forum

Hey,

I'm a masters student currently looking to narrow my research topic for my thesis. My instructor and his masters students are currently in the process of developing a game engine along with a renderer. What I was thinking about was how AI is implemented in video games and how you can model synthetic senses for the agents (touch, sight, hearing, etc.). Can a physics engine help in modeling these senses and make them more accurate? Where should I begin my research and experimentation? I am admittedly new to physics engines, and need to learn as much as I can about them.

The collision module of the physics engine can help you since it usually provides API for ray and convex casts or volume queries. Those are useful to implement touch, sight or hearing obviously. You don't want to duplicate those in an AI system.