Webots began in 1996 at EPFL in Lausanne and was sold commercially by Cyberbotics until December 2018, when it moved to the Apache 2.0 licence. Releases follow a yearly rhythm, R2025a appeared at the end of January 2025. The package ships ready made models of e-puck, TurtleBot, Nao, Universal Robots arms and dozens of sensors, so a working scene exists minutes after install. Controllers can be written in C, C++, Python, Java or MATLAB, with a ROS 2 bridge and browser streaming.
Strongest in teaching and mobile robotics research, where one installer for Windows, macOS or Linux matters more than photorealism. The physics is solid rather than cutting edge, and the community is smaller than Gazebo's, which shows when a rare sensor is missing. Cyberbotics funds development through paid support and contract work, so free users rely on the forum and Discord.
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