Registering an Environment

Registering an Environment#

In the previous tutorial, we learned how to create a custom cartpole environment. We manually created an instance of the environment by importing the environment class and its configuration class.

While straightforward, this approach is not scalable as we have a large suite of environments. In this tutorial, we will show how to use the gymnasium.register() method to register environments with the gymnasium registry. This allows us to create the environment through the gymnasium.make() function.

The Code#

The tutorial corresponds to the random_agent.py script in the scripts/environments directory.

Code for random_agent.py

# Copyright (c) 2022-2026, The Isaac Lab Project Developers (https://github.com/isaac-sim/IsaacLab/blob/main/CONTRIBUTORS.md).
# All rights reserved.
#
# SPDX-License-Identifier: BSD-3-Clause

"""Script to an environment with random action agent."""

import argparse
import sys

import gymnasium as gym
import torch

import isaaclab_tasks  # noqa: F401
from isaaclab_tasks.utils import add_launcher_args, launch_simulation, resolve_task_config

# add argparse arguments
parser = argparse.ArgumentParser(description="Random agent for Isaac Lab environments.")
parser.add_argument(
    "--disable_fabric", action="store_true", default=False, help="Disable fabric and use USD I/O operations."
)
parser.add_argument("--num_envs", type=int, default=None, help="Number of environments to simulate.")
parser.add_argument("--task", type=str, default=None, help="Name of the task.")
# append AppLauncher cli args
add_launcher_args(parser)
# parse the arguments
args_cli, hydra_args = parser.parse_known_args()

# pass remaining args to Hydra
sys.argv = [sys.argv[0]] + hydra_args

# PLACEHOLDER: Extension template (do not remove this comment)


def main():
    """Random actions agent with Isaac Lab environment."""

    torch.manual_seed(42)

    # parse configuration via Hydra (supports preset selection, e.g. env.sim.physics=newton)
    env_cfg, _ = resolve_task_config(args_cli.task, "")

    with launch_simulation(env_cfg, args_cli):
        # override with CLI arguments
        env_cfg.scene.num_envs = args_cli.num_envs if args_cli.num_envs is not None else env_cfg.scene.num_envs
        env_cfg.sim.device = args_cli.device if args_cli.device is not None else env_cfg.sim.device
        if args_cli.disable_fabric:
            env_cfg.sim.use_fabric = False

        # create environment
        env = gym.make(args_cli.task, cfg=env_cfg)

        # print info (this is vectorized environment)
        print(f"[INFO]: Gym observation space: {env.observation_space}")
        print(f"[INFO]: Gym action space: {env.action_space}")
        # reset environment
        env.reset()
        # simulate environment
        sim = env.unwrapped.sim
        while True:
            if sim.visualizers:
                # visualizer mode: run until the visualizer window is closed
                if not any(v.is_running() and not v.is_closed for v in sim.visualizers):
                    break
            # run everything in inference mode
            with torch.inference_mode():
                # sample actions from -1 to 1
                actions = 2 * torch.rand(env.action_space.shape, device=env.unwrapped.device) - 1
                # apply actions
                env.step(actions)

        # close the simulator
        env.close()


if __name__ == "__main__":
    # run the main function
    main()

The Code Explained#

The envs.ManagerBasedRLEnv class inherits from the gymnasium.Env class to follow a standard interface. However, unlike the traditional Gym environments, the envs.ManagerBasedRLEnv implements a vectorized environment. This means that multiple environment instances are running simultaneously in the same process, and all the data is returned in a batched fashion.

Similarly, the envs.DirectRLEnv class also inherits from the gymnasium.Env class for the direct workflow. For envs.DirectMARLEnv, although it does not inherit from Gymnasium, it can be registered and created in the same way.

Using the gym registry#

To register an environment, we use the gymnasium.register() method. This method takes in the environment name, the entry point to the environment class, and the entry point to the environment configuration class.

Note

The gymnasium registry is a global registry. Hence, it is important to ensure that the environment names are unique. Otherwise, the registry will throw an error when registering the environment.

Manager-Based Environments#

For manager-based environments, the following shows the registration call for the cartpole environment in the isaaclab_tasks.manager_based.classic.cartpole sub-package:

import gymnasium as gym

from . import agents

##
# Register Gym environments.
##

gym.register(
    id="Isaac-Cartpole-v0",
    entry_point="isaaclab.envs:ManagerBasedRLEnv",
    disable_env_checker=True,
    kwargs={
        "env_cfg_entry_point": f"{__name__}.cartpole_env_cfg:CartpoleEnvCfg",
        "rl_games_cfg_entry_point": f"{agents.__name__}:rl_games_ppo_cfg.yaml",
        "rsl_rl_cfg_entry_point": f"{agents.__name__}.rsl_rl_ppo_cfg:CartpolePPORunnerCfg",
        "rsl_rl_with_symmetry_cfg_entry_point": f"{agents.__name__}.rsl_rl_ppo_cfg:CartpolePPORunnerWithSymmetryCfg",
        "skrl_cfg_entry_point": f"{agents.__name__}:skrl_ppo_cfg.yaml",
        "sb3_cfg_entry_point": f"{agents.__name__}:sb3_ppo_cfg.yaml",
    },
)

gym.register(
    id="Isaac-Cartpole-RGB-v0",
    entry_point="isaaclab.envs:ManagerBasedRLEnv",
    disable_env_checker=True,
    kwargs={
        "env_cfg_entry_point": f"{__name__}.cartpole_camera_env_cfg:CartpoleRGBCameraEnvCfg",
        "rl_games_cfg_entry_point": f"{agents.__name__}:rl_games_camera_ppo_cfg.yaml",
    },
)

gym.register(
    id="Isaac-Cartpole-Depth-v0",
    entry_point="isaaclab.envs:ManagerBasedRLEnv",
    disable_env_checker=True,
    kwargs={
        "env_cfg_entry_point": f"{__name__}.cartpole_camera_env_cfg:CartpoleDepthCameraEnvCfg",
        "rl_games_cfg_entry_point": f"{agents.__name__}:rl_games_camera_ppo_cfg.yaml",
    },
)

gym.register(
    id="Isaac-Cartpole-RGB-ResNet18-v0",
    entry_point="isaaclab.envs:ManagerBasedRLEnv",
    disable_env_checker=True,
    kwargs={
        "env_cfg_entry_point": f"{__name__}.cartpole_camera_env_cfg:CartpoleResNet18CameraEnvCfg",
        "rl_games_cfg_entry_point": f"{agents.__name__}:rl_games_feature_ppo_cfg.yaml",
    },
)

gym.register(
    id="Isaac-Cartpole-RGB-TheiaTiny-v0",
    entry_point="isaaclab.envs:ManagerBasedRLEnv",
    disable_env_checker=True,
    kwargs={
        "env_cfg_entry_point": f"{__name__}.cartpole_camera_env_cfg:CartpoleTheiaTinyCameraEnvCfg",
        "rl_games_cfg_entry_point": f"{agents.__name__}:rl_games_feature_ppo_cfg.yaml",
    },
)

The id argument is the name of the environment. As a convention, we name all the environments with the prefix Isaac- to make it easier to search for them in the registry. The name of the environment is typically followed by the name of the task, and then the name of the robot. For instance, for legged locomotion with ANYmal C on flat terrain, the environment is called Isaac-Velocity-Flat-Anymal-C-v0. The version number v<N> is typically used to specify different variations of the same environment. Otherwise, the names of the environments can become too long and difficult to read.

The entry_point argument is the entry point to the environment class. The entry point is a string of the form <module>:<class>. In the case of the cartpole environment, the entry point is isaaclab.envs:ManagerBasedRLEnv. The entry point is used to import the environment class when creating the environment instance.

The env_cfg_entry_point argument specifies the default configuration for the environment. The default configuration is loaded using the isaaclab_tasks.utils.parse_env_cfg() function. It is then passed to the gymnasium.make() function to create the environment instance. The configuration entry point can be both a YAML file or a python configuration class.

Direct Environments#

For direct-based environments, the environment registration follows a similar pattern. Instead of registering the environment’s entry point as the ManagerBasedRLEnv class, we register the environment’s entry point as the implementation class of the environment. Additionally, we add the suffix -Direct to the environment name to differentiate it from the manager-based environments.

As an example, the following shows the registration call for the cartpole environment in the isaaclab_tasks.direct.cartpole sub-package:

import gymnasium as gym

from . import agents

##
# Register Gym environments.
##

gym.register(
    id="Isaac-Cartpole-Direct-v0",
    entry_point=f"{__name__}.cartpole_env:CartpoleEnv",
    disable_env_checker=True,
    kwargs={
        "env_cfg_entry_point": f"{__name__}.cartpole_env_cfg:CartpoleEnvCfg",
        "rl_games_cfg_entry_point": f"{agents.__name__}:rl_games_ppo_cfg.yaml",
        "rsl_rl_cfg_entry_point": f"{agents.__name__}.rsl_rl_ppo_cfg:CartpolePPORunnerCfg",
        "skrl_cfg_entry_point": f"{agents.__name__}:skrl_ppo_cfg.yaml",
        "sb3_cfg_entry_point": f"{agents.__name__}:sb3_ppo_cfg.yaml",
    },
)

gym.register(

Creating the environment#

To inform the gym registry with all the environments provided by the isaaclab_tasks extension, we must import the module at the start of the script. This will execute the __init__.py file which iterates over all the sub-packages and registers their respective environments.

import isaaclab_tasks  # noqa: F401

In this tutorial, the task name is read from the command line. The task name is used to parse the default configuration as well as to create the environment instance. In addition, other parsed command line arguments such as the number of environments, the simulation device, and whether to render, are used to override the default configuration.

    # parse configuration via Hydra (supports preset selection, e.g. env.sim.physics=newton)
    env_cfg, _ = resolve_task_config(args_cli.task, "")

    with launch_simulation(env_cfg, args_cli):
        # override with CLI arguments
        env_cfg.scene.num_envs = args_cli.num_envs if args_cli.num_envs is not None else env_cfg.scene.num_envs
        env_cfg.sim.device = args_cli.device if args_cli.device is not None else env_cfg.sim.device
        if args_cli.disable_fabric:
            env_cfg.sim.use_fabric = False

        # create environment
        env = gym.make(args_cli.task, cfg=env_cfg)

Once creating the environment, the rest of the execution follows the standard resetting and stepping.

The Code Execution#

Now that we have gone through the code, let’s run the script and see the result:

./isaaclab.sh -p scripts/environments/random_agent.py --task Isaac-Cartpole-v0 --num_envs 32 --viz kit

This should open a stage with everything similar to the Creating a Manager-Based RL Environment tutorial. To stop the simulation, you can either close the window, or press Ctrl+C in the terminal.

In addition, you can also change the simulation device from GPU to CPU by setting the value of the --device flag explicitly:

./isaaclab.sh -p scripts/environments/random_agent.py --task Isaac-Cartpole-v0 --num_envs 32 --device cpu --viz kit

With the --device cpu flag, the simulation will run on the CPU. This is useful for debugging the simulation. However, the simulation will run much slower than on the GPU.