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Author Actuators from UI#

Tool Reference

Note

Though NewtonActuator is not specific to Newton, the UI elements for creating NewtonActuator and its related schemas are currently living under isaac.physics.newton.ui and will be available, when the current simulation engine is set to Newton, and Issac Sim is launched with isaacsim.newton.sh/cmd.

Start Isaac Sim with Newton#

To enable Newton simulation engine, use isaacsim.newton.sh/cmd to launch Isaac Sim.

Launch Isaac with Newton enabled, indicated by the top left of the viewport.

Load In Franka Asset#

You can find the Franka Panda example used in the python and usd example in Content > Isaac > Robots > FrankaRobotics > FrankaPanda > franka.usd

Loading the Franka Panda asset

Create Newton Actuator#

Create a Newton actuator prim with Create > Physics > Newton > Newton actuator.

Select the newly create newton_actuator prim, go to property panel, find Physics > Inactive > Newton Actuator(Newton)

Note

The NewtonActuator is hidden in the Inactive panel to prevent accidental edits, if it is created from python or USD import. However, we are going to directly edit it here.

Pick Targets and select panda_joint1

Note

The NewtonActuator can be applied to many joints at once, however, it means all the selected joints will share the same controller settings. Here we will create an actuator for each joint, so we can apply different gains for each.

With newton_actuator selected, click Add > Physics > Newton > Newton Actuator PD Controllers. And Add > Physics > Newton > Newton Actuator Max Effort Clamping.

Set Kd to 8, Kp to 32, and Max Effort to 1000.

You can rename the newton_actuator to panda_joint1_actuator and place it under the corresponding link for organizational purposes.

Repeat the process and create 6 more actuators for panda_joint2-7

You can use the PD settings from the python tutorial.

KP_GAINS = [32.0, 32.0, 32.0, 16.0, 32.0, 32.0, 32.0]
KD_GAINS = [8.0, 8.0, 8.0, 8.0, 8.0, 8.0, 8.0]
MAX_EFFORTS = [1000.0, 1000.0, 1000.0, 1000.0, 1000.0, 1000.0, 1000.0]

What’s next#