Awesome Robotics Libraries

A curated list of robotics simulators and libraries.

Simulators

Free or Open Source

AirSim - Simulator based on Unreal Engine for autonomous vehicles [github ]
ARTE - Matlab toolbox focussed on robotic manipulators [github ]
Gazebo - Dynamic multi-robot simulator [bitbucket]
GraspIt! - Simulator for grasping research that can accommodate arbitrary hand and robot designs [github ]
Isaac - Nvidia's virtual simulator for robots
MORSE - Modular open robots simulation engine [github ]
Neurorobotics Platform - Internet-accessible simulation of robots controlled by spiking neural networks [bitbucket]
V-REP - Virtual robot experimentation platform

Commercial

Actin Simulation
RobotDK - Simulation and OLP for robots
RobotStudio
Robot Virtual Worlds
Virtual Robotics Toolkit
Visual Components
Webots - Robot simulator that provides a complete development environment

Libraries

Dynamics Simulation

⚠️ The following table is not complete. Please feel free to report if you find something incorrect or missing.

Name	Models	Features	Languages	Licenses	Code
ARCSim	soft		C++
Bullet	rigid, soft	ik, id	C++, Python	Zlib	github
CHRONO::ENGINE	rigid, soft, granular, fluid	ik, urdf	C++, Python	BSD-3-Clause	github
DART	rigid, soft	ik, id, plan, urdf, sdf	C++, Python	BSD-2-Clause	github
Drake	rigid, aero, fluid	ik, trj-opt, plan	C++, Matlab	BSD-3-Clause	github
Flex	rigid, soft, particle, fluid		C++		github
FROST	rigid		MATLAB	BSD-3-Clause	github
IBDS	rigid, particle		C++	Zlib
idyntree	rigid	id	C++, Python, Matlab, Lua	LGPL-2.1	github
KDL	rigid	ik	C++	LGPL-2.1	github
kindr	rigid	(todo)	C++, Matlab	BSD-3-Clause	github
Klampt	(todo)	(todo)	C++, Python	BSD-3-Clause	github
LibrePilot	uav, vehicles	(todo)	C++	GPL-3.0	bitbucket, github
MARS	(todo)	(todo)	C++, Python	LGPL-3.0	github
MBDyn	(todo)	(todo)	C++	GPL-2.1	download
MBSim	(todo)	(todo)	C++	(not specified)	github
MBSlib	(todo)	(todo)	C++	LGPL-3.0	github
metapod	(todo)	(todo)	C++	LGPL-3.0	github
Moby	rigid	id	C++	GPL-2.0	github
mrpt	vehicle	slam, cv	C++, Python, Matlab	BSD-3-Clause	github
MuJoCo	(todo)	id	C++, Python	licenses	closed source
Newton Dynamics	(todo)	(todo)	C++	Zlib	github
nphysics	(todo)	(todo)	Rust	BSD-3-Clause	github
ODE	rigid		C++	LGPL-2.1 or BSD-3-Clause	bitbucket
OpenRAVE	(todo)	(todo)	C++, Python	LGPL-3.0	github
pinocchio	rigid	ik, id	C++, Python	LGPL-3.0	github
PositionBasedDynamics	(todo)	(todo)	C++	MIT	github
PyDy	(todo)	(todo)	Python	BSD-3-Clause	github
RBDL	rigid	ik	C++, Python	LGPL-3.0	bitbucket
RBDyn	rigid	(todo)	C++, Python	LGPL-3.0	github
ReactPhysics3d	(todo)	(todo)	C++	Zlib	github
Robopy	(todo)	(todo)	Python 3	MIT	github
Robotics Library	(todo)	(todo)	C++	GPL-3.0 or BSD-2-Clause	github
RobWork	(todo)	(todo)	C++	Apache-2.0	SVN (id/pw required)
siconos	(todo)	(todo)	C++, Python	Apache-2.0	github
Simbody	rigid, molecules	id, urdf	C++	Apache-2.0	github
SOFA	rigid, soft, medical	(todo)	C++	LGPL-2.1	github
trep	rigid	dm, trj-opt	C, Python	GPL-3.0	github
qu3e	rigid	-	C++	Zlib	github

For simplicity, shortened names are used to represent the supported models and features as

Supported Models
- rigid: rigid bodies
- soft: soft bodies
- aero: aerodynamics
- granular: granular materials (like sand)
- fluid: fluid dynamics
- vehicles
- uav: unmanned aerial vehicles (like drones)
- medical
- molecules
- parallel: parallel mechanism (like Stewart platform)
Features on Simulation, Analysis, Planning, Control Design
- dm: discrete mechanics
- ik: inverse kinematics solvers
- id: inverse dynamics
- slam: simultaneous localization and mapping
- trj-opt: trajectory optimization
- plan: motion planning algorithms
- cv: computer vision
- urdf: urdf parser
- sdf: sdf parser

Machine Learning

Fido - Lightweight C++ machine learning library for embedded electronics and robotics [github ]
libdeep - C/C++ library for deep learning [github ]
OpenAI Gym - Developing and comparing reinforcement learning algorithms [github ]
- gym-dart [github ]
- gym-gazebo [github ]

Motion Planning and Control

Aikido - Solving robotic motion planning and decision making problems. [github ]
CuiKSuite - Applications to solve position analysis and path planning problems
Control Toolbox - Control, estimation, optimization and motion planning in robotics [bitbucket]
HPP - Path planning for kinematic chains in environments cluttered with obstacles [github]
MoveIt! - Motion planning framework [github ]
OMPL - Open motion planning library [bitbucket, github ]
ROS Behavior Tree - [github ]

Motion Optimizer

trajopt - Framework for generating robot trajectories by local optimization [github ]

Nearest Neighbor

Cover-Tree - Cover tree data structure for quick k-nearest-neighbor search [github ]
- Faster cover trees by Mike Izbicki et al., ICML 2015.
FLANN - Fast Library for Approximate Nearest Neighbors [github ]
nanoflann - Nearest Neighbor search with KD-trees [github ]

3D Mapping

libpointmatcher - Iterative Closest Point library for 2-D/3-D mapping in Robotics [github ]
OctoMap - Efficient Probabilistic 3D Mapping Framework Based on Octrees [github ]
PCL - 2D/3D image and point cloud processing [github ]
voxblox - Flexible voxel-based mapping focusing on truncated and Euclidean signed distance fields [github ]

Optimization

CasADi - Symbolic framework for algorithmic differentiation and numeric optimization [github ]
Ceres Solver - Large scale nonlinear optimization library [github ]
Ipopt - Large scale nonlinear optimization library [github ]
libcmaes - Blackbox stochastic optimization using the CMA-ES algorithm [github ]
limbo - Gaussian processes and Bayesian optimization of black-box functions [github ]
NLopt - Nonlinear optimization [github ]
RobOptim - Numerical Optimization for Robotics. [github ]
SCS - Numerical optimization for solving large-scale convex cone problems [github ]
sferes2 - Evolutionary computation [github ]

Robot Modeling

Robot Model Description Format

SDF - XML format that describes objects and environments for robot simulators, visualization, and control (bitbucket)
urdf - XML format for representing a robot model [github ]

Utility to Build Robot Models

phobos - Add-on for Blender creating URDF and SMURF robot models [github ]

Robot Platform

Linorobot - ROS compatible ground robots [github ]
- onine - Service Robot based on Linorobot and Braccio Arm [github ]
Rock - Software framework for robotic systems
ROS - Flexible framework for writing robot software [github repos]
ROS 2 - Version 2.0 of the Robot Operating System (ROS) software stack [github repos]
YARP - Communication and device interfaces applicable from humanoids to embedded devices [github ]

SLAM

Cartographer - Real-time SLAM in 2D and 3D across multiple platforms and sensor configurations [github ]
DSO - Novel direct and sparse formulation for Visual Odometry [github ]
ElasticFusion - Real-time dense visual SLAM system [github ]
Kintinuous - Real-time large scale dense visual SLAM system [github ]
LSD-SLAM - Real-time monocular SLAM [github ]
ORB-SLAM2 - Real-time SLAM library for Monocular, Stereo and RGB-D cameras [github ]
SRBA - Solving SLAM/BA in relative coordinates with flexibility for different submapping strategies [github ]