Robotics Library

Robotics Library

• RL is a robotics library: RL covers mathematics, kinematics, dynamics, hardware abstraction, motion planning, collision detection and visualization.
• RL is self-contained: It is not a middleware or an open framework, but a well-designed and consistent library. The components of RL are designed top-down, have compatible data types and are completely implemented.
• RL is platform-independent C++: RL can be run on all machines from real-time patched Linux to Windows desktop PCs. It uses CMake as a build system, may be compiled with GCC and Visual Studio and only depends on platform-independent libraries like Boost, Eigen, CGAL, Coin and SOLID.
• RL is open source: It is BSD-licensed and free for use in commercial applications.
• RL is useful: It abstracts from common robotic hardware, implements the standard algorithms. RL is being used by several research projects (JAST, JAHIR, James) and commercially in spin-off companies.

Getting Started

• See publications, videos and FAQ:
  • ICRA 2009 Workshop on Open Source Software in Robotics Slides
  • Video of a simple path planning example
  • Video of robot workspace research scenario
  • Read the frequently asked questions

• Download RL binaries and try out the examples
  • The Ubuntu Installation is by far the most convenient way to try out RL. You can add the Launchpad respository, install the latest version within your package manager and run the examples. We would even recommend to set up a virtual machine with Ubuntu just for trying out and inspecting RL.
  • If this is not an option for you, we could provide a Windows build. Just send us an email.
  • Follow the Tutorial and learn how to develop with RL

• Build RL from source on your system
  • Download the latest source files from Sourceforge. Note that from version 0.5 to 0.5.1, we shifted from IPP to Eigen as a maths library, so make sure you get the latest version.
  • Find out what components of RL you need and what libraries they depend on.
  • Follow the building instructions for Windows or Linux.
  • For Ubuntu, you may instead install the Ubuntu package, which may be slightly dated but is the most convenient.

Documentation

• Frequently Asked Questions
• Tutorial
• Components of the Library
• Installation from source for Windows or Linux, package installation for Ubuntu.
• API Documentation
• SourceForge Project Page
• Launchpad Project Page

Components

• RL::MATH
  Mathematics
• RL::UTIL
  Timers, Threads, Mutexes, ...
• RL::XML
  XML Abstraction
• RL::HAL
  Hardware Abstraction
• RL::KIN
  Denavit-Hartenberg Kinematics
• RL::MDL
  Rigid Body Kinematics/Dynamics
• RL::SG
  Scene Graph Abstraction
• RL::PLAN
  Motion Planning

Applications

• COACH
  Visualization Server Example
• Research projects that use the Robotics Library
  • JAST
  • JAHIR
  • James