Drake — The Complete Guide: Open-Source Robot Dynamics, Simulation and Control

Drake is an open-source toolbox (BSD-3-Clause) for analysing robot dynamics and building control systems, with an emphasis on optimisation-based design. It was originally developed at MIT and is now led by Toyota Research Institute; you work with it in C++ or Python.

Drake

Toyota Research Institute (originated at MIT CSAIL)

A C++ and Python toolbox for robot dynamics — multibody simulation with contact, optimisation and control design.

Mechanical EngineeringCompletely FreeOpen SourceLinuxmacOSNumerical & MathematicsSimulation & FEA

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What you get

• A system modelling framework — build dynamical systems from connected components.
• Multibody simulation — including contact and friction between bodies.
• A mathematical programming library — formulate and solve optimisation problems.
• Trajectory planning and control — from motion planning to the controller.
• Performance — exploits sparsity and analytical gradients to solve large problems efficiently.

Who it suits

Drake is aimed at mechanical and robotics engineers in research and development who want to combine an accurate physical model with optimisation. It is officially supported on Ubuntu and macOS only — there is no Windows version. If you mainly want a simulator with a graphical environment, Gazebo or Webots will feel more convenient.

Related tools

For fast physics simulation, widely used in reinforcement learning — MuJoCo. For simple simulation straight from Python — PyBullet. For motion planning of robot arms inside ROS 2 — MoveIt 2.

MuJoCo

Google DeepMind

A fast physics engine for robotics, biomechanics and machine learning.

Mechanical EngineeringCompletely FreeOpen SourceLinuxmacOSWindowsSimulation & FEA

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PyBullet

Bullet Physics

A physics engine for robotics and reinforcement learning, driven from Python.

Mechanical EngineeringCompletely FreeOpen SourceLinuxmacOSWindowsSimulation & FEA

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Gazebo

Open Robotics

3D robotics simulator with physics and simulated sensors, integrated with ROS.

Electrical & ElectronicsMechanical EngineeringCompletely FreeOpen SourceLinuxmacOSWindowsSimulation & FEA

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MoveIt 2

PickNik Robotics and MoveIt community

A framework for motion planning, inverse kinematics and collision checking for robot arms on ROS 2.

Mechanical EngineeringCompletely FreeOpen SourceLinuxSimulation & FEA

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The bottom line

Drake is a serious tool for anyone who needs to model, optimise and control robots — free for any use, including commercial work, on Linux and macOS.

Further reading

• Free Robotics Software — ROS, Gazebo, MuJoCo and Where to Start
• MuJoCo — The Complete Guide: Fast, Free Physics Simulation for Robotics and Reinforcement Learning
• PyBullet — The Complete Guide: A Physics Engine for Robotics and Reinforcement Learning in Python