Plugin usage without editor

[diegostefano]

Hi!

I was able to build and run the plugin and followed through the documentation examples. But everything seem to depend on editor interactions to work (like dragging the MjMananager actor, dragging the XML files to import, etc). Is it possible to use this plugin exclusively from code, without depending on the editor?

Specifically, I was wondering if it was possible to be create an actor class and, inside it, load the MuJoCo XML of a robot. Then, when I spawn the actor into the scene, it would behave just like importing the XML through the editor.

If this is possible, where should I look for further information on how to achieve this?

[jonathanembleyriches]

Yes! (or very soon.)

I have a set of PRs queued that overhaul the communication layer in URLab and our Python companion package urlab_bridge. The goal is that anything you'd normally do in the editor (scene assembly, XML import, PIE control, runtime control, and genereal scene editing) can be driven from Python instead.

We now have remote stepping with three modes (live, direct, and puppet). There's also a gym-style API on top. Communication is overhauled to a faster, namespaced wire protocol that the Python side can introspect, so the bridge knows the full surface before any call goes out. These PRs make using the plugin easier and also make deploying policies faster.

I'm currently finishing internal testing before the PRs are public, hoping to land them in the next few days. I'll post back here with docs once they're in.