Installation#

This page describes how to install Isaac Lab Arena from source inside a Docker container.

Supported Systems#

Isaac Lab Arena runs on Isaac Sim 5.1.0 and Isaac Lab 2.3.0. The dependencies are installed automatically during the Docker build process. Hardware requirements for Isaac Lab Arena are shared with Isaac Sim, and are detailed in Isaac Sim Requirements.

Installation via Docker#

Isaac Lab Arena supports installation from source inside a Docker container. Future versions of Isaac Lab Arena, we will support a larger range of installation options.

  1. Clone the repository and initialize submodules:

git clone git@github.com:isaac-sim/IsaacLab-Arena.git

git submodule update --init --recursive

  1. Launch the docker container:

./docker/run_docker.sh

The container will build (if needed) and drop you into an interactive shell.

Note

The run docker script mounts the following directories from the host machine if they exist:

  • Datasets: $HOME/datasets → /datasets

  • Models: $HOME/models → /models

  • Evaluation: $HOME/eval → /eval

When mounted a user avoids re-downloading datasets and models between container restarts, so our suggestion is to create these directories on the host machine before running the container. Note that the path of the mounted directories are configurable — see docker/run_docker.sh for the full list of arguments.

  1. Optionally verify installation by running tests:

pytest -sv -m "with_cameras and not with_subprocess" isaaclab_arena/tests/
pytest -sv -m "not with_cameras and not with_subprocess" isaaclab_arena/tests/
pytest -sv -m with_subprocess isaaclab_arena/tests/

With isaaclab_arena installed and the docker running, you’re ready to build your first IsaacLab-Arena Environment. See First Arena Environment to get started.