MAVSDK

Software
Drones and boats
Driver or SDK

MAVSDK is a set of cross-platform libraries giving a high-level API to MAVLink, the messaging protocol used to communicate with drones and other vehicles.

Source on GitHub: github.com/mavlink/MAVSDK (opens in a new tab). Facts read at commit 6e12f18 (opens in a new tab).

Licenses

Code: BSD-3-Clause (opens in a new tab)
Read by Robotheca from LICENSE.md (opens in a new tab) (BSD-3-Clause) at commit 6e12f18 (opens in a new tab), on 16 Oct 2026.
Commercial use: Yes

What it does

Provides a C++ core for basic MAVLink communication, plus plugin libraries for specific features.
Offers synchronous and asynchronous (callback-based) API calls that are easy to use.
Includes C, Python and Kotlin bindings built directly on the C++ library.
Other languages such as Swift, Java, Go and Rust connect over gRPC through the mavsdk_server process.
The API for all languages is defined by proto files, and bindings are generated from them.
Extensible through the MavlinkDirect plugin, or the deprecated MavlinkPassthrough plugin.

Written by Robotheca from the project's README (opens in a new tab) at commit 6e12f18.

Getting started

Difficulty: Intermediate
Hardware it needs, as the project states it: It names no specific computer, GPU, memory or boards.
How to start: The project's website (opens in a new tab)

Maintenance

Status: Active: a commit in the last 90 days
Newest commit: 15 Oct 2026 on main
Latest release: v4.0.6 (8 Oct 2026)

Checked on GitHub on 16 Oct 2026.

Robots on Robotheca that use it

No robot on Robotheca is linked to it yet. Links come from a robot's robot.yaml, from its dependency files read as text, or from Robotheca's editors.

Robotheca lists software as a reference: nothing is hosted or run here, and every fact links to where it was read.