What is Newton's relationship to IsaacSim?

[ecstayalive]

I don't understand the difference between the Newton physics engine and IsaacSim. I'm currently using IsaacSim for robotics-related work, and it's very powerful with a lot of features. However, it seems a bit bloated, whereas Newton seems much more lightweight and fast. What is the relationship between the two? Will Isaacsim later use Newton's underlying engine instead of PhysX, and will the two be integrated?

[gavrielstate]

Newton is a physics engine that future releases of Isaac Lab will use for training RL control policies for robots. We're expecting that version of Isaac Lab will have only an optional dependance on Isaac Sim or Omniverse for sensor rendering.

We expect to also enable a separate path for Isaac Sim to use Newton in the future while still supporting PhysX. That will enable robotics CI/CD work and interoperation with ROS, etc.

The Isaac Sim side integration will come later however.

[vassil-atn]

Hi, thanks for the great work! Is there an approximate timeline for the IsaacLab integration?

[preist-nvidia]

It should be this summer, together with an alpha release of Newton. We don't have a fixed date and base the release on hitting target metrics.

[vassil-atn]

That's great to hear, looking forward to it!

[gavrielstate]

Note that the initial Isaac Lab integration is available now in the feature/newton branch.