Maritime Robotics Simulation

Simulation is essential for developing, testing, and validating maritime robotics systems before deployment. This page covers the major simulation environments and tools available for surface and underwater vehicles.

References

This landscape references the following community resources:

  • Best of Robot Simulators - A comprehensive ranking and comparison of robotics simulators
  • Research publications documenting individual simulators (cited in respective sections)

Gazebo-Based Simulators

Gazebo (including Gazebo Classic and modern Gazebo/Ignition) is widely used in the ROS ecosystem.

Simulator Physics Wave Support ROS Version Vehicle Types Last Update
VRX Gazebo ✓ ROS/ROS 2 USV 11/2025
MBZIRC Gazebo ✓ ROS 2 ASV/UAV 08/2022
DAVE Gazebo ✓ ROS UUV 12/2023
LRAUV Gazebo ✗ ROS 2 AUV 03/2025
BlueROV2 Gazebo ✗ ROS 2 ROV 12/2025
Orca4 Gazebo ✗ ROS 2 AUV 11/2025
SUAVE Gazebo ✗ ROS 2 AUV 07/2025

Table last updated on December 31th, 2025 at 05:26:06 PM UTC

Virtual RobotX (VRX)

The Virtual RobotX competition simulator provides an ASV simulation environment. See the VRX documentation for supported features, requirements, and ROS compatibility.

DAVE (Dave Aquatic Virtual Environment)

DAVE is a simulation environment for underwater robotic solutions.

⚠️ Note: DAVE documentation lists ROS 1 (Noetic) and Gazebo 11 as current dependencies, with legacy support for older ROS/Gazebo versions. ROS Noetic reaches end-of-life on 2025-05-31. See DAVE docs and the ROS Noetic EOL notice.

See the DAVE documentation for supported features, requirements, and ROS compatibility.

MBZIRC Maritime Challenge

Simulator for the MBZIRC Maritime Grand Challenge. See the repository for supported features and requirements.

LRAUV Simulator

Long-range AUV simulator based on MBARI's LRAUV design. See the repository for details.

Other Gazebo-Based Simulators

Modern Game Engine-Based Simulators

State-of-the-art simulators built on advanced game engines for high-fidelity visualization and physics.

HoloOcean

HoloOcean is an underwater robotics simulator. See its documentation for current engine details and supported features.

Use Cases: Perception algorithm development, machine learning training, visual navigation (see docs for details)

UNav-Sim

UNav-Sim is an open-source underwater robotics simulator built on Unreal Engine 5 and AirSim (per the project README).

MARUS

MARUS - Maritime Robotics Simulator built on Unity. See the project site for supported features and licensing.

SMaRCSim

SMaRCSim - SMart ARChitecture for Maritime Robotics Simulation.

Features: See the project repository for supported scenarios, protocols, and tooling.

Gazebo Plugins

Essential plugins that extend Gazebo for maritime robotics:

Wave Simulation

  • asv_wave_sim: Gazebo wave and surface vessel simulation (see repository for details)

Sensor Plugins

  • Sonar plugins (imaging sonar, multibeam, forward-looking)
  • DVL plugins (velocity and altitude measurement)
  • Acoustic communication plugins
  • Underwater camera plugins (turbidity, light attenuation)

Alternative Simulators

Stonefish

Stonefish is a C++ simulation library for marine robotics; see its documentation for feature details and supported integrations.

OceanSim

OceanSim is an underwater robot perception simulation framework; see the repository for capabilities and requirements.

TurtleBoat

TurtleBoat is a lightweight, vessel-dynamics learning example; see the repository for usage details.

Use Cases: Learning vessel control, testing basic algorithms, educational demonstrations

Unity-Based Simulators

  • unity-arduboat-sim: Unity simulation of ArduRover boogie board boat (see repository for details)

Historical/Legacy Simulators

ds_sim (WHOI Deep Submergence Lab)

ds_sim | Mirror: Field-Robotics-Lab/ds_sim

WHOI Deep Submergence Lab's simulation environment for deep submergence vehicles.

Status: ROS 1 + Gazebo Classic (legacy) Integration: Designed to work with UUV Simulator Features: - DSL environment plugins - DVL simulation models - Deep submergence vehicle dynamics - Integration with WHOI sensor ecosystem (ds_msgs)

Note: Part of the larger WHOI DSL ROS ecosystem. For new projects, consider modern alternatives (DAVE, Stonefish, or game engine-based simulators).

Simulation Comparison

Rather than a scored table, compare simulators using verifiable criteria from their documentation:

  • Supported ROS version and Gazebo/engine version
  • Sensor and vehicle models available
  • Licensing and open-source status
  • Hardware requirements
  • Maintenance status and recent activity

Simulation Best Practices

Choosing a Simulator

  1. Vehicle Type: Match simulator to your platform (ASV → VRX, AUV → DAVE/Stonefish)
  2. Sensor Requirements: Ensure simulator supports your sensors (especially sonar for underwater)
  3. Physics Needs: Consider required fidelity for hydrodynamics, waves, currents
  4. ROS Version: Check compatibility with your target ROS distribution
  5. Computational Resources: Consider available hardware (GPU for OceanSim, CPU for others)

Integration Tips

  1. Start Simple: Begin with basic models before adding complexity
  2. Validate Physics: Compare simulation to real-world data when available
  3. Use Standard Interfaces: Leverage ROS 2 control interfaces for portability
  4. Version Control: Track simulation parameters and world files
  5. Document Assumptions: Record simplifications and model limitations

This page was last updated: December 31, 2025