ArduPilot/ardupilot
ArduPlane, ArduCopter, ArduRover, ArduSub source observed · 2026-08-28
Health v2 · maintenance only
98/100
- Activity 99
- Release rhythm 95
- Longevity 100
How is this computed?
round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10) — computed 2026-09-03. Adoption (stars, forks) is never an input.
- gap_med: 0
- age_days: 4985
- days_rel: 37
- days_push: 7
- n_releases_24m: 28
Adoption not part of the score
15748 stars · 21296 forks observed · 2026-08-28
What it is AI-extracted, prompt v1, taxonomy v1, 2026-08-29, confidence not recorded
ArduPilot is an open-source autopilot firmware suite (ArduPlane, ArduCopter, ArduRover, ArduSub) written in C++ that controls unmanned vehicles including multirotors, fixed-wing aircraft, rovers, boats, and submarines. It runs on a wide variety of flight controller hardware and communicates via MAVLink with ground control stations.
Use cases
- fly a drone autonomously with waypoint missions
- autopilot firmware for a fixed-wing UAV
- control an underwater ROV with ArduSub
- build a self-driving rover with GPS navigation
- run SITL simulation of a quadcopter
- integrate drone control via MAVLink or ROS
- antenna tracking for UAV telemetry
When to choose
- you need mature, feature-rich open-source autopilot firmware for drones, planes, rovers, or boats
- you want broad hardware support across many flight controller boards
- you need MAVLink/ROS integration for companion computers
- you want a large community, extensive documentation, and SITL simulation
When to avoid
- you need a lightweight microcontroller-only flight stack with minimal footprint
- you require a permissive license (GPLv3 applies)
- you are building a non-vehicle robotics project unrelated to autopilots
Facets
application · maturity stable
robotics simulation embedded middleware robotics autonomous-vehicles embedded-systems hardware embedded cross-platform cpp autopilot drone uav mavlink firmware ardupilot flight-controller rover submarine linux
10 sources
- readme: https://github.com/ArduPilot/ardupilot · fetched 2026-08-28 · a68e6d51ec28
- homepage: http://ardupilot.org/ · fetched 2026-08-29 · 4c78cdba28e0
- site_page: https://ardupilot.org/ardupilot/docs/common-donation.html · fetched 2026-08-29 · 06b5005dec17
- site_page: https://ardupilot.org/dev/docs/events.html · fetched 2026-08-29 · 1eb009c3ea15
- site_page: https://ardupilot.org/dev/docs/common-history-of-ardupilot.html · fetched 2026-08-29 · 963009a7ab1d
- site_page: https://ardupilot.org/dev/docs/license-gplv3.html · fetched 2026-08-29 · adad22a130d7
- site_page: https://ardupilot.org/ardupilot/docs/common-partners.html · fetched 2026-08-29 · 19cce8692abf
- site_page: https://ardupilot.org/dev/docs/common-training-centers.html · fetched 2026-08-29 · 496aa987ab63
- site_page: https://ardupilot.org/ardupilot/docs/common-team.html · fetched 2026-08-29 · 77363dcbe0b5
- site_page: https://ardupilot.org/dev/docs/common-team.html · fetched 2026-08-29 · 8141ff95354b
Member repositories
| Repository | Role | Health v2 |
|---|---|---|
| ArduPilot/ardupilot | main | 98 |
For agents
markdown · JSON · MCP: product_card(name="ArduPilot/ardupilot")
Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00 · Report a problem