Cable Carrier (Drag Chain) Simulation via Joints — Possible Instability or Over-segmentation Issue

Omniverse Isaac Sim
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🧩 Topic: Cable Carrier (Drag Chain) Simulation via Joints — Possible Instability or Over-segmentation Issue

Isaac Sim Version:
4.5.0

Operating System:
Windows 11

GPU Information:

  • Model: RTX 4060 Ti

  • Driver Version: 581.80

🧠 Topic Description

I created a cable carrier (drag chain) animation in Blender to simulate realistic cable protection movement.

Now I want to reproduce the same motion inside Isaac Sim 4.5 using articulation joints instead of baked animation.

However, when I try to build it with many segments, the simulation becomes unstable or doesn’t behave correctly.

I suspect this may be caused by too many connected joints or incorrect physics/joint parameter settings, but I’m not sure which part is responsible.

I’d like to know the recommended setup or best practice for building a multi-segment cable carrier that behaves physically stable and follows motion smoothly in Isaac Sim.

3

Hi, Please check out the PhysX Rope demo example (Window->Examples->Physics Examples->Joints->Rigid-Body Ropes). It’s quite similar to your case and might provide a good reference.

4

Thank you for your reply.
This example is indeed very close to the effect I need.
Do you know if there are any related tutorials that I can watch?
Also, since it uses a D6 joint, is it possible for me to control the first segment’s endpoint and the last segment’s endpoint?

5

I am not aware of any tutorial on this other than the demo example. You can find the documents on D6 joint in the PhysX document.