Underwater Multi-Robot Simulation and Motion Planning in Angler

Deploying multi-robot systems in underwater environments is expensive and lengthy; testing algorithms and software in simulation improves development by decoupling software and hardware. However, this requires a simulation framework that closely resembles the real-world. Angler is an open-source framework that simulates low-level communication protocols for an onboard autopilot, such as ArduSub, providing a framework that is close to reality, but unfortunately lacking support for simulating multiple robots. We present an extension to Angler that supports multi-robot simulation and motion planning. Our extension has a modular architecture that creates non-conflicting communication channels between Gazebo, ArduSub Software-in-the-Loop (SITL), and MAVROS to operate multiple robots simultaneously in the same environment. Our multi-robot motion planning module interfaces with cascaded controllers via a JointTrajectory controller in ROS~2. We also provide an integration with the Open Motion Planning Library (OMPL), a collision avoidance module, and tools for procedural environment generation. Our work enables the development and benchmarking of underwater multi-robot motion planning in dynamic environments.

@article{agrawal2025_2506.06612,
  title={ Underwater Multi-Robot Simulation and Motion Planning in Angler },
  author={ Akshaya Agrawal and Evan Palmer and Zachary Kingston and Geoffrey A. Hollinger },
  journal={arXiv preprint arXiv:2506.06612},
  year={ 2025 }
}