Gazebo (simulator)
Gazebo is a 3D dynamic simulator widely used in robotics research, education, and development. It allows users to accurately and efficiently simulate robots in complex indoor and outdoor environments. Gazebo provides realistic simulations of rigid-body dynamics, including contact, friction, and collision.
Developed initially by the University of Southern California (USC) and later supported by the Open Source Robotics Foundation (OSRF), Gazebo is open-source and freely available under the Apache 2.0 license. This allows for widespread adoption and community contributions.
A key feature of Gazebo is its ability to simulate a variety of sensors, including cameras, lidar, sonar, and force/torque sensors. This enables developers to test robot algorithms and control strategies in a virtual environment before deploying them on real-world hardware. Gazebo leverages a client-server architecture, allowing simulations to be run on powerful servers and accessed remotely through a network connection.
Gazebo's architecture supports a wide range of robot models, environmental features, and simulation parameters. Users can create custom environments using various modeling tools and import existing models. The simulator utilizes physics engines, such as ODE (Open Dynamics Engine), Bullet, and Simbody, for realistic physical simulations. The choice of physics engine can impact simulation accuracy and performance.
Gazebo integrates with the Robot Operating System (ROS), a popular framework for robotics software development. This integration allows for seamless communication between ROS nodes and Gazebo simulations, enabling developers to leverage ROS tools and libraries for robot control, perception, and planning within the simulated environment. This tight integration has made Gazebo a de facto standard for ROS-based robot simulation.
Through its combination of realistic physics, sensor simulation, ROS integration, and open-source nature, Gazebo serves as a valuable tool for prototyping, testing, and validating robot systems in a safe and controlled environment.