Simulating complex robotic scenarios with MORSE

Abstract. MORSE is a robotic simulation software developed by roboti-cists from several research laboratories. It is a framework to evaluate robotic algorithms and their integration in complex environments, mod-eled with the Blender 3D real-time engine which brings realistic rendering and physics simulation. The simulations can be specified at various levels of abstraction. This enables researchers to focus on their field of interest, that can range from processing low-level sensor data to the integration of a complete team of robots. After nearly three years of development, MORSE is a mature tool with a large collection of components, that pro-vides many innovative features: software-in-the-loop connectivity, multi-ple middleware support, configurable components, varying levels of simu-lation abstraction, distributed implementation for large scale multi-robot simulations and a human avatar that can interact with robots in virtual environments. This paper presents the current state of MORSE, high-lighting its unique features in use cases.