OMPL

OMPL (Open Motion Planning Library) is an open-source software library that provides a wide collection of sampling-based motion planning algorithms for robotics and related fields. The library offers a common, extensible interface for defining state spaces, collision checking, validity, and planners, allowing researchers to compare different planning approaches on the same problem formulation.

It supports both geometric planning in configuration spaces and planning with dynamics through state and control spaces. The library defines planning problems via a SpaceInformation object, which encapsulates the robot's state space, control space (when applicable), and collision and feasibility checks. It includes a variety of planners, such as RRT, RRT*, PRM, PRM*, KPIECE1, EST, SBL, LBTRRT, and newer algorithms like BIT*, FMT*, and Informed variants.

OMPL is implemented in C++ with bindings for Python (PyOMPL), enabling use from Python scripts. It is distributed under a permissive license (BSD), and its design emphasizes portability and integration with other robotics software, including ROS and ROS-based planning frameworks such as MoveIt, which can utilize OMPL planners.

Since its release, OMPL has become a standard toolkit in robotics research for evaluating planning algorithms. The project provides documentation, tutorials, and examples to help users implement custom planners and problem definitions, and it maintains an active community of contributors.