Feature comparison

A list of features present in Gazebo-classic version 11 and the status of their migration to Gazebo Ionic.

All the issues below are labeled with close the gap on GitHub.

Sensors

Sensor	Gazebo-classic	Gazebo Sim
Air pressure	✕	✓
Altimeter	✓	✓
Bounding Box camera	✕	✓
Camera	✓	✓
Contact sensor	✓	✓
Depth camera	✓	✓
Doppler Velocity Log (DVL)	✕	✓
Force-torque	✓	✓
GPS / NavSat	✓	✓
GPU Ray	✓	✓ Renamed to GPU Lidar
IMU	✓	✓
Logical audio sensor	✕	✓
Logical camera	✓	✓
Magnetometer	✓	✓
Multi-camera	✓	✕ Use individual cameras with same update rate
Optical tactile sensor	✕	✓
Ray	✓	Issue
RFID sensor and tag	✓	Issue
RGBD camera	✕	✓
Segmentation camera	✕	✓
Sonar	✓	Issue
Thermal camera	✕	✓
Triggered camera	✕	✓
Wide-angle camera	✓	✓
Wireless	✓	✓ RFComms

Sensor features	Gazebo-classic	Gazebo Sim
Custom update rate	✓	✓
Gaussian noise	✓	✓
Custom sensors	✓	✓
Laser retroreflection	✓	✓
Camera distortion	✓	✓
Performance metrics	✓	✓

SDF Features

Feature	Gazebo-classic	Gazebo Sim
SDF frame semantics	✓	✓
SDF parametrization	✕	✓
Load models from local files	✓	✓
Closed kinematic chains	✓	Issue
Nested models	✓	✓
Populations	✓	Issue
Actors	✓	✓
Markers	✓	✓
Heightmaps	✓	✓
DEM (Digital Elevation Models)	✓	✓
Polylines	✓	✓
World plugins	✓	✓ Now called System plugin
Model plugins	✓	✓ Now called System plugin
Sensor plugins	✓	✓ Now called System plugin
Visual plugins	✓	✓
GUI plugins	✓	✓ Gazebo GUI plugins and Gazebo GUI systems
System plugins	✓	✓ Through Gazebo Launch
SDF python bindings	x	✓
SDF <-> Mujoco MJCF	x	✓

Plugins

Model plugins

Plugin	Gazebo-classic	Gazebo Sim
AckermannSteering	✕	✓
ActorPlugin	✓	✕ See FollowActor for a demo of Actor APIs
ActuatorPlugin	✓
ArduCopterPlugin	✓
AttachLightPlugin	✓	✕ Does not apply, use SDF
Breadcrumbs	✕	✓
BuoyancyPlugin	✓	✓
CartDemoPlugin	✓	✕
CessnaPlugin	✓	✕
DetachableJoint	✕	✓
DiffDrivePlugin	✓	✓
ElevatorPlugin	✓	✓
FlashLightPlugin	✓
FollowerPlugin	✓
GimbalSmall2dPlugin	✓
GravityCompensationPlugin	✓
HarnessPlugin	✓
HydraDemoPlugin	✓
InitialVelocityPlugin	✓	✓ (use VelocityControl or JointController)
JointControlPlugin	✓ (force / pos / vel, from SDF)	✓ (vel, from msg)
JointStatePublisher	✕	✓
JointTrajectoryPlugin	✓	✓
KeysToCmdVelPlugin	✓	Use gz::gui::KeyPublisher with gz::gazebo::systems::TriggeredPublisher
KeysToJointsPlugin	✓	Use gz::gui::KeyPublisher with gz::gazebo::systems::TriggeredPublisher
LedPlugin	✓
LiftDragPlugin	✓	✓
LinearBatteryConsumerPlugin	✓	✓
LinearBatteryPlugin	✓	✓
LinkPlot3DPlugin	✓	✓ (renamed to Plot3D)
MecanumDrive	✕	✓
MudPlugin	✓
MulticopterMotorModel	✕	✓
OdometryPublisherPlugin	✕	✓
PlaneDemoPlugin	✓
PosePublisher	✕	✓
RandomVelocityPlugin	✓
RegionEventBoxPlugin	✓
SimpleTrackedVehiclePlugin	✓	✓
SkidSteerDrivePlugin	✓	✓
SphereAtlasDemoPlugin	✓	✕
TouchPlugin	✓	✓
TrackedVehiclePlugin	✓	✓
VariableGearboxPlugin	✓
VehiclePlugin	✓
WheelSlipPlugin	✓	✓
WheelTrackedVehiclePlugin	✓	✓
KineticEnergyMonitor	✕	✓
Buoyancy engine	✕	✓

World plugins

Plugin	Gazebo-classic	Gazebo Sim
ArrangePlugin	✓
ContainPlugin	✓	Partial port, Issue
HydraPlugin	✓
JoyPlugin	✓	✓ Migrated as an Gazebo Launch plugin
MisalignmentPlugin	✓
RubblePlugin	✓
StaticMapPlugin	✓
TransporterPlugin	✓
WindPlugin	✓	✓

Sensor plugins

Plugin	Gazebo-classic	Gazebo Sim
BreakableJointPlugin	✓
CameraPlugin	✓	Issue
ContactPlugin	✓	✓
DepthCameraPlugin	✓	Issue
FiducialCameraPlugin	✓
ForceTorquePlugin	✓	✓
GpuRayPlugin	✓	Issue
ImuSensorPlugin	✓	✓
LensFlareSensorPlugin	✓
MagnetometerPlugin	✕	✓
OpticalTactilePlugin	✕	✓
PressurePlugin	✓
RayPlugin	✓	Issue
RaySensorNoisePlugin	✓	✕ Use SDF
SonarPlugin	✓	Issue

Visual plugins

Plugin	Gazebo-classic	Gazebo Sim
AmbientOcclusionVisualPlugin	✓
BlinkVisualPlugin	✓
HeightmapLODPlugin	✓
ShaderParamVisualPlugin	✓	✓

GUI plugins

Plugin	Gazebo-classic	Gazebo Sim
CessnaGUIPlugin	✓
KeyboardGUIPlugin	✓	gz::gui::KeyPublisher
LookAtDemoPlugin	✓
TimerGUIPlugin	✓

System plugins

Plugin	Gazebo-classic	Gazebo Sim
ColladaWorldExporter	✕	✓
ModelPropShop	✓	✓
RestUiPlugin	✓
RestWebPlugin	✓
StopWorldPlugin	✓

GUI

Feature	Gazebo-classic	Gazebo Sim
Play / pause / step	✓	✓
Reset world / models	✓	Issue
World stats	✓	✓
Topic echo	✓	✓
Image viewer	✓	✓
Translate / rotate	✓	✓
Scale models	✓	Issue
Insert models from Fuel	Partial support	✓
Insert models from disk	✓	✓
Insert simple shapes	✓	✓
Insert simple lights	✓	✓
Delete models	✓	✓
World tree	✓	✓
Scene properties	✓	Issue
Log recording / playback	✓	✓
Plotting	✓	✓
Video recording	✓	✓
Screenshot	✓	✓
View angles	✓	✓
Apply force / torque	✓
Visualize as transparent	✓	✓
Visualize as wireframe	✓	✓
Visualize joints	✓	✓
Visualize collisions	✓	✓
Visualize inertia	✓	✓
Visualize CoM	✓	✓
Visualize contacts	✓	✓
Visualize lights	✓	✓
Follow / move to	✓	✓
Copy / paste	✓	✓
Building editor	✓
Model editor	✓	Issues
FPS view control	✓
Orthographic projection	✓	✓
Undo / redo	✓	Issue
Save world	✓	✓
Save GUI configuration	✓	✓
Color scheme and themes	✕	✓
Position, resize and configure widgets	✕	✓
Load GUI plugins from menu	✕	✓
Edit model pose	✓	✓
Edit light properties	✓	✓
Edit physics properties	✓	✓

Physics

In Gazebo Physics, physics engines are integrated as plugins, so any engine can be integrated without changing the core source code, as it was the case in Gazebo.

Feature	Gazebo-classic	Gazebo Sim
ODE engine	✓	Issue
Bullet engine	✓	✓
DART engine	✓	✓ Plugin shipped with gz-physics
Simbody engine	✓	Issue
TPE engine	✕	✓
Custom engine plugins	✕	✓
Collide bitmasks	✓	✓
Restitution coefficient	✓	✓
Collision detector	✓	✓
Solver	✓	✓

Rendering

In Gazebo Rendering, render engines are integrated as plugins, so any engine can be integrated without changing the core source code.

Feature	Gazebo-classic	Gazebo Sim
Ogre 1.x engine	✓	✓
Ogre 2.x engine	✕	✓
Optix engine	✕	✓ Partial support
Custom engine plugins	✕	✓
Sky	✓	✓
Fog	✓
Material scripts	✓ (Ogre 1.x scripts)	Does not apply
Physically Based Rendering (PBR)	✕	✓ (with engines that support it, like Ogre 2)
Normal maps	✓	✓
Environment maps	✕	✓
Lightmaps	✕	✓
Particle effects	✕	✓
Render order	✕	✓
Projector	✕	(ogre 1.x only)

ROS integration

ROS integration through the ros_gz packages.

Supported versions:

• ROS 2 Iron (from source) / Rolling (from source)

Note: binaries for ROS2 might be available sometime after the Ionic release.

For ROS 2 Rolling, the Rolling distribution moves with the next future release of ROS 2 defined in REP-2000. For the Gz Ionic release this means that it will be adopted when ROS 2 Jazzy goes into the REP-2000.

Platforms

Platform	Gazebo-classic	Gazebo Sim
Ubuntu	✓	✓
OSX	✓	Most of the stack works, outstanding issues: render window
Windows	✓	All libraries compile, low-level libraries function well: Issue

Others

Feature	Gazebo-classic	Gazebo Sim
Nested models	✓	✓
Log / playback	✓	✓
Web client (GzWeb)	✓
COLLADA meshes	✓	✓
OBJ meshes	✓	✓
STL meshes	✓	✓
USD meshes	✕	✓
Code introspection	✓	All simulation state is accessible from system plugins or through the SceneBroadcaster’s state topic
Distribute simulation across processes	✕	(coming up)
Incrementally load levels	✕	✓
Online model database	gazebo_models repository	Gazebo Fuel
Saved simulation states	✓	Issue
Sphere, cylinder and box primitives	✓	✓
Ellipsoid and capsule primitives	✕	✓
Hydrodynamics	✕	✓
Ocean currents	✕	✓
Test fixture	✓	✓
Spherical coordinates	✓	✓
Generic comms system	✕	✓
Acoustic communication	✕	✓
Static linked plugins	✕	✓