Choreonoid: Extensible virtual robot environment built on an integrated GUI framework

Virtual robot models are often used for developing, testing, and using robot systems. Such activities can be efficiently conducted by using software tools for visualizing and operating virtual robots with a graphical user interface (GUI). However, existing GUI tools such as robot simulators do not provide all the functions necessary for handling a target robot system, and the development of new GUI tools from the ground up to actuate functions requires considerable effort. To solve this problem, we have developed a software framework called Choreonoid, which allows users to efficiently implement and integrate various GUI tools for handling virtual robots. In this paper, we present the framework design. The validity of our design and implementation is shown by example tools implemented on the Choreonoid framework.