[Feature request]: 2D Simulation for RMF Using gazebo.

[saksham07sk]

Before proceeding, is there an existing issue or discussion for this?

• I have done a search for similar issues and discussions.

Description

Dear OpenRMF Team,

First of all, I would like to sincerely appreciate the outstanding work you’re doing. Your efforts are being recognized across the robotics industry, and as a working professional in this field, I can confidently say that OpenRMF is proving to be a powerful and impactful framework.

As part of our internal development and proof-of-concept (POC) efforts, we rely heavily on simulations to demonstrate how effectively RMF can manage multi-robot fleets. However, we’ve encountered performance limitations when using 3D environments in Gazebo, especially as the complexity and number of robots scale up. Real-time simulation with 3D models becomes extremely resource-intensive and leads to significant lag, particularly when simulating over 100 robots.

In this context, I would like to inquire:

Is there any official or recommended way to run 2D simulations in Gazebo (or an alternative simulator) that retains all core RMF functionalities (e.g., navigation, conflict negotiation, fleet coordination), but with significantly lower computational overhead compared to 3D?

If such a 2D mode or plugin exists — or is being developed — it would be incredibly helpful for high-demand simulations, especially in resource-constrained environments.

I would greatly appreciate any guidance or recommendations regarding lightweight simulation tools or configurations that are compatible with RMF.

Thank you again for your contributions to the robotics community.

Implementation Considerations

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Alternatives

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Additional information

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[mxgrey]

This is an issue that we've recognized for a long time but haven't had an opportunity to fully address yet.

We have an intention to build an event-driven (non-physical) simulator into the site editor which is the next generation replacement for the traffic editor.

We're taking some steps towards this right now with efforts to introduce a multi-agent path finding plugin into the site editor, but we don't have a specific timeline for when we'll have a full event-driven simulation implemented. As we develop that simulation it will be based on the next generation interfaces rather than the current architecture of Open-RMF.