A screenshot from the Gazebo robotics simulator. Credit: Open Source Robotics Foundation
Gazebo Classic, a popular robotics simulator developed by the Open Source Robotics Foundation (OSRF), reached end of life last week. Going forward, only versions of modern Gazebo will be supported by the Gazebo team. All versions of Gazebo Classic, denoted by numbered release names, are end-of-life.
The last version of Gazebo Classic, Gazebo 11, was released in January 2020 as a long-term supported (LTS) release with support lasting five years. The OSRF said Gazebo Classic introduced many simulation features, including SDFormat 1.7 frame semantics, support for biovision hierarchical (BVH) skeletal animations, slow motion/sped up log playback, and tracked vehicles with flippers to name a few.
In practical terms, OSRF said, end-of-life (EOL) means it will no longer provide the following for Gazebo Classic: new features and capabilities, security updates, bug fixes, updated binaries, and more. The OSRF said users don’t need to migrate to modern versions of Gazebo immediately, but recommended they do so as soon as possible.
“We end of life particular Gazebo releases for the same reason that most people don’t use Windows XP or an iPhone 4 anymore: better versions of the software are now available and we simply don’t have the resources to support every Gazebo release into perpetuity. Marking a particular version of Gazebo end of life frees up resources to help support newer and better versions of the software. More to the point, the underlying packages and operating system (Ubuntu Focal) used by Gazebo Classic also goes end of life in April 2025.”
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The OSRF recommends Gazebo Classic users upgrade to the latest LTS release of modern Gazebo, Gazebo Harmonic. Gazebo Harmonic works best on Ubuntu Jammy (22.04) and Ubuntu Noble (24.04) and will be supported until September 2028, according to its developers. Gazebo Classic users who still use ROS 1 will also need to upgrade to ROS 2 Jazzy to use Gazebo Harmonic.
The modern Gazebo documentation includes a variety of guides and tutorials on how to migrate a project from Gazebo Classic to modern Gazebo. The OSRF made this table to help users figure out which versions of Gazebo work best with which versions of ROS.
ROS 1 soon goes end of life
It is also important to note that all of ROS 1, including ROS 1 Noetic, will go end of life on May 23, 2025. According to the OSRF, more than 80% of the ROS community has already upgraded to ROS 2 and 67% of Gazebo users have already upgraded to modern Gazebo.
The current version of ROS 2, called ROS 2 Jazzy Jalisco, was released in May 2024. The 10th version of ROS 2 is an LTS release that will be supported until May 2029. Jazzy Jalisco offers a host of new features and enables connectivity between existing ROS code and the Intrinsic platform. Intrinsic, a spinout of the X moonshot division of Alphabet in mid-2021, acquired the Open Source Robotics Corporation in late 2022.
ROS 2 documentation provides step-by-step instructions on how to migrate your ROS 1 project to ROS 2.
Learn about ROS 2 at Robotics Summit & Expo
ROS 2 will be an important topic at the 2025 Robotics Summit & Expo, which takes place April 30-May 1 in Boston. Geoffrey Biggs, CTO of the Open Source Robotics Foundation, is giving a talk on April 30 from 1:45-2:30 PM called “Key ROS 2 Features to Learn as ROS 1 Sunsets.” Biggs will look at just a few of the successes ROS 2 has enabled around the world, in a wide range of fields.
Through these examples, attendees will learn why building on ROS 2 allows them to receive the work of hundreds of engineers for lower investment than building from scratch, and why using ROS 2 is the best way to achieve success in their product development and scale up to full deployment faster than by building everything themselves. The talk will also discuss perceived barriers to adoption, and what’s on the horizon for ROS 2.
Produced by The Robot Report, the Robotics Summit & Expo brings together 5,000+ developers focused on building robots for a variety of commercial industries. Attendees will gain insights into the latest enabling technologies, engineering best practices, and emerging trends. There will be 70-plus speakers on stage, 10+ hours of dedicated networking time, a Women in Robotics Breakfast, a career fair, startup showcase, and more. Returning to the show is the RBR50 Pavilion and RBR50 Awards Dinner that will honor the winners of the annual RBR50 Robotics Innovation Awards.
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