# mit-acl/faster

3D Trajectory Planner in Unknown Environments

Repository: https://github.com/mit-acl/faster
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/mit-acl-faster
Language: C++
License: BSD-3-Clause
License Family: permissive
Topics: uav, autonomous-navigation, path-planning, trajectory-optimization, ground-robot, planning, drone
Last push: 2025-03-10T22:43:56+00:00

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 37/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-03T02:20:16.233290+00:00)
- activity 10, release rhythm 35, longevity 100
- inputs: {"age_days": 2429, "days_push": 541, "days_rel": null, "gap_med": null, "n_releases_24m": 0}
- flags: no_releases
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 1249, forks 199 (observed 2026-08-28T04:04:07.866156+00:00)

## What it is
FASTER is a C++/ROS 3D trajectory planner for fast and safe navigation of UAVs and ground robots in unknown environments, published in IEEE T-RO. It computes dynamically feasible trajectories that guarantee safety via a backup trajectory while optimizing the primary path.

## Use cases
- plan 3d trajectories for a drone in unknown environments
- autonomous navigation for uavs with obstacle avoidance
- trajectory optimization for a ground robot
- safe flight planning with guaranteed feasibility
- ros-based motion planning for quadrotors
- navigate drones through unmapped cluttered spaces

## When to choose
- you need a research-grade trajectory planner for UAVs or ground robots in unknown or partially mapped environments
- your stack is ROS-based on Ubuntu and you can use Gurobi for optimization
- you want provably safe trajectories with a backup-plan mechanism

## When to avoid
- you need a plug-and-play planner without ROS or Gurobi dependencies
- you target Windows/macOS or non-ROS robotics frameworks
- you need a maintained production planner with recent ROS 2 support out of the box

## Facets
- artifact type: library
- maturity: maintenance
- function: simulation, robotics
- domain: robotics, autonomous-vehicles
- platform: cpp
- tags: trajectory-planning, path-planning, uav, drone, ros, motion-planning, unknown-environments, gurobi, algorithms, linux

## Member repositories
- mit-acl/faster (main) score 37

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:04:07.866156+00:00.
- Health v2: computed from the inputs above; adoption is never an input.
- Inferred fields (summary, facets, guidance): AI-extracted, prompt v1, taxonomy v1, on 2026-08-30T05:07:48.253895+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/mit-acl/faster (fetched 2026-08-28T04:04:07.866156+00:00, sha c4b62a1e5067)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.