# sofa-framework/sofa

Real-time multi-physics simulation with an emphasis on medical simulation.

Repository: https://github.com/sofa-framework/sofa
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/sofa
Homepage: https://www.sofa-framework.org
Language: C++
License: LGPL-2.1
License Family: copyleft
Topics: real-time, simulation, medical, physics, cpp, framework, engine, research, sofa-framework
Last push: 2026-08-26T11:46:43+00:00

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 86/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-02T17:46:02.011165+00:00)
- activity 99, release rhythm 61, longevity 100
- inputs: {"age_days": 3746, "days_push": 7, "days_rel": 49, "gap_med": 188, "n_releases_24m": 4}
- flags: none
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 1251, forks 360 (observed 2026-08-28T04:04:08.299590+00:00)

## What it is
SOFA is an open-source C++ framework for interactive, real-time multi-physics simulation based on the Finite Element Method, with an emphasis on medical simulation and robotics. It ships as a bundle of libraries plus a standalone GUI (runSofa) and an extensible plugin system, targeting research and prototyping of deformable and rigid body dynamics.

## Use cases
- simulate soft tissue deformation for surgical training
- prototype soft robotics before fabrication
- real-time FEM simulation of deformable bodies
- biomechanics research on organs and tissue
- simulate rigid and soft body interactions with collisions
- integrate physics simulation into Unity or Unreal via plugins
- compare constitutive models and solvers for continuum mechanics

## When to choose
- you need interactive real-time FEM simulation of deformable objects
- you work in medical simulation, biomechanics, or soft robotics research
- you want a composable scene-graph architecture with a plugin ecosystem
- you need cross-platform C++ simulation libraries you can embed in your own application

## When to avoid
- you need rigid-body game physics for a game engine (use Bullet, PhysX, or Jolt)
- you want a turnkey end-user simulator with no programming
- your project requires a permissive license incompatible with LGPL-2.1
- you need GPU-accelerated large-scale simulation out of the box without extra plugin setup

## Facets
- artifact type: framework
- maturity: active
- function: simulation, graphics, plugin-system, sdk
- domain: simulation, robotics, healthcare, graphics
- platform: windows, cpp, cross-platform
- tags: fem, physics-simulation, medical-simulation, soft-robotics, biomechanics, real-time, deformable-bodies, collision-detection, haptics, cuda, research, macos, linux

## Member repositories
- sofa-framework/sofa (main) score 86

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:04:08.299590+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 2026-08-30T05:07:41.800224+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/sofa-framework/sofa (fetched 2026-08-28T04:04:08.299590+00:00, sha 4f6776cc3e41)
  - homepage: https://www.sofa-framework.org (fetched 2026-08-29T12:18:48.346598+00:00, sha 6d6e69b1dae3)
  - site_page: https://www.sofa-framework.org/about/features (fetched 2026-08-29T12:18:48.356373+00:00, sha 02f23ecaa71a)
  - site_page: https://www.sofa-framework.org/about/news (fetched 2026-08-29T12:18:48.359102+00:00, sha f0ef33fc07b2)
  - site_page: https://www.sofa-framework.org/about/jobs (fetched 2026-08-29T12:18:48.360972+00:00, sha 9a90a7566c64)
  - site_page: https://www.sofa-framework.org/about/sofa-v26-06 (fetched 2026-08-29T12:18:48.362559+00:00, sha db80c348825f)
  - site_page: https://www.sofa-framework.org/about (fetched 2026-08-29T12:18:48.364421+00:00, sha 02f23ecaa71a)
  - site_page: https://www.sofa-framework.org/about/news/sofa-week-2026-registration-open (fetched 2026-08-29T12:18:48.366273+00:00, sha 7c57f7c8fab7)
  - site_page: https://www.sofa-framework.org/about/news/cushion-soft-robotics-simulation-in-grasshopper (fetched 2026-08-29T12:18:48.367985+00:00, sha 36897e125140)
  - site_page: https://www.sofa-framework.org/about/news/sofa-v26-06-has-been-released (fetched 2026-08-29T12:18:48.369872+00:00, sha c724632fb52b)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.