Lab: IsaacGym with Keyboard Control via PyGame

Clone this repo

cd ~
git clone 

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Lab Overview

In this lab, students will learn how to integrate keyboard inputs with robotic car simulation in Isaac Gym. The objective is to map user commands from the keyboard (up, down, left, right) to motor control actions for a simulated car. This lab combines robotics simulation, keyboard input handling, and control logic.

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Learning Objectives

1. Understand Simulation Basics:

   • Set up a robotic car simulation using NVIDIA Isaac Gym.
   • Work with DOF (Degrees of Freedom) properties and effort control.

2. Integrate User Inputs:

   • Use keyboard inputs to control the car's motors dynamically.

3. Develop Control Logic:

   • Map keyboard inputs (up, down, left, right) to the car's movement (forward, backward, turn left, turn right).

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Lab Task

Task: Map Keyboard Inputs to Motor Actions

• In the main loop of the script, map the input tensor [up, down, left, right] to the motor actions [Wheel1, Wheel2, Wheel3, Wheel4] such that:
  • Up (up): All wheels move forward.
  • Down (down): All wheels move backward.
  • Left (left): Left wheels move backward, and right wheels move forward (turn left).
  • Right (right): Right wheels move backward, and left wheels move forward (turn right).

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Implementation Details

Simulation Initialization

The CarSimulation class handles:

• Creating a physics-based simulation with Isaac Gym.
• Loading a car asset from a URDF file (car_gym.urdf).
• Setting DOF properties for motor control.

Keyboard Input Integration

The KeyboardInput class from the pykeyboard library provides:

• A simple interface to capture keyboard inputs (up, down, left, right).
• A get_actions() method that returns the action tensor [up, down, left, right].

Main Task: Map Keyboard Inputs to Motor Actions

Modify the section marked with:

################ Write your code here ################
'''
Task: Map the input [up, down, left, right] to the Car Movements [forward, backward, left, right]
Input Variable: actions: 1x4 tensor [up, down, left, right]
Output Variable: actions: 1x4 tensor [Wheel1, Wheel2, Wheel3, Wheel4]
'''
######################################################

Test Your Code

• Modify the code at ~/isaacgym_rl/scripts/lab_car.py.
• Enter Docker then test it.

cd ~/isaacgym_rl
source Docker/run.sh
cd scripts
python3 lab_car.py