Gazebo PMC Meeting Minutes 2026-03-23
The robotics simulator's governing body plans workshops and addresses critical GPU node overloads in its latest meeting.
The Gazebo Project Management Committee (PMC) convened on March 23, 2026, to steer development of the popular open-source robotics simulator. A major focus was forward planning for the ROSCon 2026 conference, with discussions on potential Gazebo workshops, hackathons, and Birds of a Feather sessions to engage the community. The committee also tackled pressing technical debt, specifically a buildfarm resource crisis where gz-physics compilation jobs are overloading dedicated GPU nodes. A proposal to increase RAM on standard compute nodes was put forward to alleviate this bottleneck.
On the development front, significant progress was reported. Multiple updates to the integrated Mujoco physics engine were merged, including gravity implementation and contact/step improvements (PRs 889, 893, 914). The team is also advancing the gz-rotary release, with official announcement and logo planning underway. Other updates include a new benchmark suite for gz-transport, the addition of volume functions to gz-math, and a proposal to include Architecture Decision Records (ADRs) in the release-tools pipeline for better project governance.
- Planning for ROSCon 2026 includes workshops, hackathons, and community sessions to boost engagement.
- Addressing a critical buildfarm issue where gz-physics builds overload GPU nodes, with a RAM upgrade proposal.
- Merged key Mujoco physics engine updates for gravity and contact handling, advancing simulation realism.
Why It Matters
These plans and fixes ensure Gazebo remains a robust, scalable platform crucial for robotics research, simulation, and development.