Motion planning · Control & Planning
RBDL 3.4·RBDL Community (Martin Felis)
RBDL (Rigid Body Dynamics Library) is a mature, lightweight C++ library implementing classical rigid-body dynamics algorithms following Roy Featherstone's textbook "Rigid Body Dynamics Algorithms" (2008). Created in 2011 by Martin Felis at Universität Heidelberg as part of his PhD thesis in the ORB group (Optimization in Robotics and Biomechanics). zlib license (permissive, compatible with BSD/Apache).
RBDL implements the full set of classical algorithms: RNEA (Recursive Newton-Euler Algorithm) for inverse dynamics, CRBA (Composite Rigid Body Algorithm) for the inertia matrix H, ABA (Articulated Body Algorithm) for forward dynamics, and Jacobian derivatives. It additionally supports floating-base systems (humanoids, quadrupeds), loop-closure constraints (e.g. closed kinematic loops), and the URDF model.
Compared with Pinocchio: RBDL is smaller (~5k lines of code), simpler to use, has an older biomechanics community (OpenSim community), but is slower in benchmarks for large models (>20 DOF). Often used in biomechanical applications and education. Bindings: Python (official), Lua, MATLAB (community).
An API Library is a software package that exposes programmatic interfaces for communicating with a device, service, or system. In robotics it typically forms a lightweight integration layer built on top of the manufacturer's official API or an open-source project, abstracting low-level protocol details and providing language-native bindings (Python, C++, Java, etc.).
A family of open-source libraries for motion planning (RRT, PRM, Lazy-PRM), inverse kinematics, rigid-body dynamics, and trajectory optimization: MoveIt, OMPL, Pinocchio, Drake, RBDL, TrajOpt, KDL, Bullet, iDynTree.
HRP-2 robots (Inria — first production use), Cassie / Digit (Agility Robotics — ML research baseline), HyQ (IIT — Italian Institute of Technology), OpenSim biomechanics (patient gait analysis), and hundreds of papers in biomechanics and humanoid robotics.
github.com/rbdl/rbdl ~700★, ~25 contributors, > 50 publications citing RBDL (Felis, Autonomous Robots 2017), very active biomechanics community on the OpenSim forum.
Boston Dynamics bipedal humanoid robot. The fully electric generation unveiled in 2024 succeeds the hydraulic Atlas that was retired after more than a decade of research.
Tutor Intelligence industrial robot designed for palletizing, depalletizing and case-picking in warehouses and factories, offered as Robotics-as-a-Service from $14/hr.
Unitree H1 is a full-size general-purpose humanoid robot (~180 cm, ~47 kg). Bipedal, 5 DOF per leg + 4 DOF per arm, 3.3 m/s walking speed, 360° perception via 3D LiDAR + depth camera, Unitree M107 PMSM joint motors with ~360 N·m peak knee torque. Standard compute: Intel Core i5/i7; optional NVIDIA Jetson Orin NX.
Dependencies: Eigen3, optionally URDF Parser. Very simple CMake build.
License family: Permissive
Minor fixes, better URDF 2.0 compatibility.
Build updates; Lua bindings.
C++14, improved performance for floating-base humanoids.
Contact refactoring; better OpenSim support.
URDF support, loop constraints, Python bindings.
First public release from Felis's PhD thesis.
