# MultiVehicle Simulator (MVSim) **Lightweight, realistic 2.5D dynamics simulator for mobile robots and multi-agent research** [](https://github.com/MRPT/mvsim/actions/workflows/build-linux.yml) [](https://github.com/MRPT/mvsim/actions/workflows/check-clang-format.yml) [](https://mvsimulator.readthedocs.io/en/latest/?badge=latest) [](LICENSE) [**Documentation**](https://mvsimulator.readthedocs.io) · [**Installation**](https://mvsimulator.readthedocs.io/en/latest/install.html) · [**Demo worlds**](https://mvsimulator.readthedocs.io/en/latest/demo_worlds.html) · [**Cite**](#citation)

Overview

MVSim simulates wheeled robots and vehicles with realistic physics, sensors, and multi-agent support. It is designed to be fast enough for large-scale experiments while remaining accurate enough for dynamics and sensor research.

Key properties:

• Fully configured via XML world files — no code changes needed for most experiments.
• Works standalone, as a ROS 2 node, or embedded in a C++ / Python application.
• Headless mode for CI pipelines and Docker containers.
• Multi-vehicle worlds with mutual sensing (robots see each other in LiDAR).

https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/766db164-2d16-44f4-acbf-2f15b73c1ab3

https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/93c95aeb-71e9-4c35-b1dc-ba895c79daf7

Features

Vehicle dynamics

| Model | Description | |—|—| | differential | 2-wheel or 4-wheel differential drive (e.g. TurtleBot, Jackal) | | ackermann | Car-like Ackermann steering with kinematic or dynamic control | | ackermann_drivetrain | Ackermann + realistic mechanical differentials (open / Torsen, 2WD / 4WD) | | Articulated | Trailer-style articulated vehicles |

Controllers available: raw torque, twist PID, ideal twist.

Friction models: default Coulomb, Ward-Iagnemma (off-road), ellipse (slip angle + slip ratio).

Sensors

| Sensor | Notes | |—|—| | 3D LiDARs | Velodyne VLP-16, Ouster OS1, Hesai Helios-32 (26°/31°/70° FOV) | | 2D LiDAR | Generic + RPLidar A2; optional GPU-based 3D ray-tracing | | RGB camera | Pinhole model, configurable intrinsics | | RGBD camera | Depth + color (RealSense / Xtion-style), publishes pointcloud, depth image | | IMU | White noise + bias random-walk (Forster 2016 model) | | GNSS / GPS | Requires georeferenced world; configurable noise |

World elements

• Occupancy grid maps (image or MRPT binary)
• Elevation meshes (terrain with height)
• Textured 3D blocks and custom meshes (.dae, .obj)
• Friction zones (spatially-varying mu, rolling resistance)
• Multi-storey environments
• Lighting configuration
• Remote resource caching

Interfaces

• ROS 2 — full topic / TF / parameter interface (see mvsim_node docs)
• ZMQ / Protobuf — language-agnostic pub/sub for custom clients
• Python — direct API access
• C++ library — embed the simulator in your application

Installation

ROS 2 (recommended)

sudo apt install ros-$ROS_DISTRO-mvsim

Then follow the first-steps guide.

Build from source

git clone https://github.com/MRPT/mvsim.git --recursive

See full installation instructions for cmake and colcon build options.

Quick start

Standalone:

```bash mvsim launch mvsim_tutorial/demo_warehouse.world.xml

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Changelog for package mvsim

1.3.0 (2026-03-17)

• docs: add logo to web
• Modernize README
• Clean up leftovers from temporary benchmark code
• Creation of .rawlog files use ZStd if available
• walls demo world: make all walls same thickness, and expose optional env var
• Add MVSIM_SAVE_RAWLOG_FILENAME env var to some demo worlds
• XML parser: env vars now can have a default value
• docs: fix wrong referenc for {} usage
• remove leftover dep
• Merge pull request #95 from MRPT/nav-benchmark-greenhouse Nav benchmark greenhouse
• Merge branch 'develop' into nav-benchmark-greenhouse
• Add auto_start_recording property to vehicles
• logistic center demo: add lidar sensors
• Remove temporary adaptative friction class
• remove temporary deps
• Refactoring to use CsvLogger (by Claude Opus)
• Refactor torque calculation by removing comments and logger Removed logging and comments related to torque calculation.
• Changes for control benchmark paper
• Contributors: Fernando Cañadas Aránega, Jose Luis Blanco-Claraco

1.2.0 (2026-02-24)

• Merge pull request #94 from MRPT/feat/tune-pid Feature: tune pid
• Support zones with different friction and rolling resistance
• Better docs, expose more params
• FIX: sliding bug on slopes
• Add new unit test for ramps bug
• fix stop exactly with any controller. Add rolling resistance
• new PID tuning tool
• add backwards compat method
• Merge pull request #93 from MRPT/feat/add-trajectory-tests Add unit test for vehicle trajectory
• CsvLogger: feature not to write to disk
• minor edits in demo world
• Fix bug in velocity composition
• Clearer distinction between COM and REF point velocities
• Add unit test for vehicle trajectory
• Merge pull request #92 from MRPT/feat/truck-trailer-demo Feat/truck-trailer-demo
• DefaultFriction: fix missing logged variables
• Add new Ackermann ideal twist controller
• Revert "fix bug in setTwist()": it was actually a serious regression This reverts commit 07a9fd2a0ab5b4665a4f2d07638f75c1737dbdec.
• clang-tidy warning fixes
• Add env var MVSIM_COLLISION_SHAPE_CACHE_VERBOSE
• Contributors: Jose Luis Blanco-Claraco

1.1.0 (2026-02-16)

• Merge pull request #91 from MRPT/fix/lidar-3d Lidar3D: fix min clip bug; add real intensity color
• Lidar3D: fix min clip bug; add real intensity color
• Contributors: Jose Luis Blanco-Claraco

1.0.0 (2026-02-08)

• Merge pull request #89 from MRPT/fix/elevation-2-wheels Fix elevation maps for 2-wheels vehicles
• Merge pull request #88 from MRPT/feat/human-actors Add: human actors
• Merge pull request #86 from MRPT/feat/publish-log-to-ros Optional publish to ROS2 all CsvLogger entries
• Merge pull request #85 from MRPT/feat/per-block-scale Feat/per-block-scale
• Implement per block scale (Fixes #38)
• Merge pull request #84 from MRPT/fix/box2d-bugs Fix/box2d-bugs
• docs: add ROS2 topics
• fix bug in setTwist()
• Fix wrong collision detection (Fixes #42)
• Fix linear acceleration
• Merge pull request #83 from MRPT/feat/new-joints Implement joints between archors
• Demo worlds: update to add RGBD camera in greenhouse
• ROS node: fix missing publication of RGBD CameraInfo for RGB channel
• Merge pull request #82 from MRPT/feat/rgbd-publish-new-types RGBD cameras: implement publishing depth and RGB clouds
• RGBD cameras: implement publishing depth and RGB clouds
• Merge pull request #81 from MRPT/fix/py-bytes Fix: use py-bytes
• Fix trying to decode strings as utf-8 (Closes #62)
• Merge pull request #80 from MRPT/feat/imu-noise IMU: add random walk and fix bug in

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