[ompl-users] [software] Major new OMPL release

[Lydia K. <ka...@ri...>]

Dear Colleagues, 

We are pleased to announce a major new release of OMPL <http://ompl.kavrakilab.org/>, OMPL 2.0

The new release includes several additions, including VAMP integration, and changes aimed at improving functionality, compatibility, and the user experience. Below is a summary of the main updates:

Completely rewritten Python bindings.
Enabled by default if Python is detected at build time.
Prebuilt OMPL Python modules can now be installed via pip install ompl <https://ompl.kavrakilab.org/namespaceompl.html>.
VAMP Integration
Added VAMP (Vector-Accelerated Motion Planning) <https://github.com/KavrakiLab/vamp> as an optional high-performance backend for collision checking and motion validation
VAMP leverages SIMD instructions to accelerate forward kinematics and collision detection, achieving planning speeds up to 25 kHz
C++ and Python demos show usage with common robots (Panda, UR5, Fetch, Baxter)
New geometric planners:
AORRTC: Asymptotically Optimal RRT-Connect
BLIT*: Bidirectional Lazy Informed Trees
TRRT*, ATRRT: asymptotically optimal version of T-RRT and an anytime (optimal) version of T-RRT, respectively
New kinodynamic planner: HySST, an adaptation of the SST planner for hybrid systems.
New state space: ThrochoidStateSpace, an SE(2)-like state space where distance and interpolation is defined for Dubins vehicles subject to constant drift. This is useful in planning for aerial/maritime drones subject to constant wind/current.
Planner Arena has been completely rewritten in Python. It is now distributed separately <https://github.com/ompl/plannerarena> and can be installed via pip install plannerarena.
OMPL.app has been deprecated. New demos show how to use OMPL with real robots and visualize the results, eliminating the need for OMPL.app.
Bug fixes.

Download
You can download OMPL and find more information about OMPL on its homepage at https://ompl.kavrakilab.org.

We welcome feedback from the community. We hope you will find it useful. 

All the best,

Lydia Kavraki (on behalf of all contributors)


Lydia E. Kavraki, PhD
University Professor
Kenneth and Audrey Kennedy Professor of Computing
Director, Ken Kennedy Institute
Rice University
ka...@ri... <mailto:ka...@ri...>
(713) 348-5737
https://profiles.rice.edu/faculty/lydia-e-kavraki
https://www.kavrakilab.org <http://www.kavrakilab.org/>
https://kenkennedy.rice.edu <http://kenkennedy.rice.edu/>