Before you begin, make sure you have installed Substrate and that Docker is running on your machine. Substrate will pull the required simulation images automatically on first launch.
Download and install Substrate
If you have not already, download Substrate from bedrockdynamics.studio/download and follow the installation instructions for your platform.
Launch Substrate
Open the application. You will see the editor workspace with a welcome tab. The left sidebar contains icons for the file explorer, search, simulation panel, and other tools.
Open the Simulation Panel
Click the rocket icon in the left sidebar to open the Simulation panel. You can also open it through the command palette: press Cmd+Shift+P (macOS) or Ctrl+Shift+P (Windows/Linux) and type “Simulation”.
Select a drone
In the Simulation panel, choose PX4 Quadcopter (x500) from the robot type selector. This configures a standard quadcopter running the PX4 autopilot in Software-In-The-Loop mode with a Gazebo physics environment.
Launch the simulation
Click Launch. The SITL status panel appears with readiness indicators that track the simulation startup sequence: Docker container health, Gazebo world loading, PX4 boot, EKF convergence, and GPS lock.Wait for all indicators to turn green. This typically takes 10-20 seconds after the containers are cached. When the status reads “Ready”, the simulated drone is powered on and waiting for commands.
Explore the 3D Viewer
The Viewer3D panel opens automatically alongside the simulation. You will see the x500 quadcopter sitting on the ground in the Gazebo world.Use these mouse controls to navigate the scene:
Click on the drone to select it. The entity inspector panel shows the vehicle’s pose, sensor list, and joint states.
| Action | Control |
|---|---|
| Orbit | Left-click and drag |
| Zoom | Right-click and drag, or scroll wheel |
| Pan | Middle-click and drag |
Open the AI Assistant
Click the AI chat panel in the right sidebar. The assistant has access to the running simulation and can execute commands directly.Try typing:The AI agent will arm the vehicle, switch to the appropriate flight mode, and command a takeoff. You will see the drone lift off in the 3D viewer while telemetry plots update in real time.
Next Steps
Simulation Management
Learn about multi-vehicle scenarios, custom world files, and simulation profiles.
3D Viewer
Explore entity inspection, transform gizmos, TF tree visualization, and scene authoring.
Telemetry and Plotting
Set up live telemetry plots, drag channels onto chart groups, and synchronize time cursors.
AI Assistant
Learn what the AI agent can do: mission planning, diagnostics, parameter tuning, and more.
Data Playback
Open ULog files and MCAP recordings for synchronized multi-panel playback and analysis.
Connect Real Hardware
Connect Substrate to a physical drone or robot over MAVLink or ROS 2.