How to get the physic model of the soft body?

[BowenFF]

Intro

Hi!

I am a researcher at RWTH Aachen University, I use MuJoCo for my research on deformable objects and Manipulation.

My setup

Mujoco 3.3.3; Ubuntu 22.04

My question

As shown in the image below, I intend to use a robotic arm equipped with an end-effector (a rod-like tool) to poke a thin plate, which is deformable.

(1) I would like to determine the maximum deformation at the point on the thin plate where it is poked.

At the same time,

(2) I would also like to understand how the underlying physics engine of MuJoCo works. Specifically, I want to model this object separately from MuJoCo using the Finite Element Method (FEM), enabling me to calculate the deformation of the thin plate when a given force is applied. Additionally, how can I visualize or understand how MuJoCo's physics engine operates internally?

Could you provide some suggestions on how to achieve these two objectives?

Here is my soft body's XML model:
` <flexcomp type="grid" count="6 8 1" spacing=".1 .1 .1" pos="0.0 0.0 0.0"

          radius=".005" mass="1" name="plate" quat="0.7071068 0 0.7071068 0">

    <contact condim="6" solref="0.01 1" solimp=".95 .99 .0001" selfcollide="none" friction="2.0 0.01 0.001"/>

    <edge equality="true" damping="20"/>

    <elasticity poisson="0.48" thickness="1e-2" young="5e7" elastic2d="bend" />

</flexcomp>`

Minimal model and/or code that explain my question

No response

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