ISAAC SIM Tutorial for Unitree A1

1. Install Omniverse Launcher

• Follow the instruction in 2.Basic Isaac Sim Installation
• For Unitree A1, install the latest Isaac Sim beta version 2022 in Omniverse Launcher.
• This setup requires NVIDIA graphic card from RTX 2070 and ROS noetic version
• root_dir is ~/.local/share/ov/pkg/isaac_sim-2022.1.0

2. Put a1_custom.py in root_dir/standalone_examples/api/omni.isaac.quadruped/

• a1_custom.py refers to
  1. a1_direct_ros1_standalone.py - You can control A1 by directly control every 12 joints of A1.
  2. a1_standalone.py - You can control A1 by pressing NUM keypad.

3. Come back to root_dir and run

roscore

and in another terminal, run

./python.sh standalone_examples/api/omni.isaac.quadruped/a1_custom.py

(To be updated) 4. To control A1 in simulator, run

rostopic pub -r 1 isaac_a1/joint_torque_cmd sensor_msgs/JointState -- '{header: {seq: 0, stamp: now, frame_id: "value"}, name: ['name'], position: [0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0], velocity: [0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0], effort: [10, 0, 1, 10, 10, 10, 10, 10, 10, 10, 10, 10]}'

• The custom message will be made for simplicity
• a1_custom.py subscibes the topic whose type requires above values (header, position, velocity, effort)
• Not all but the first three values of effort will be used for the advance of A1 in 'x, y, rotate' direction.
• For example, in the above command the A1 will move with 10 Nm in x direction which is 'forward' and 1 Nm in 'anti-clockwise rotation'.

TODO

• Make the Robot default state to be in a sitting state (as real).
• Check the input args of Isaac Sim A1 and Unitree A1 - velocity vs effort.