Contact of a flex with `passive` collisions enabled was applied as an
explicit spring of fixed stiffness 1e4, which the timestep bounds: any
stiffness worth having oscillates faster than the step can resolve, so
the force was too soft to keep sheets apart and interpenetration was
routine.
Carry its curvature in the effective metric M + K instead, alongside the
flex's own stretch and bending stiffness. The contact block k*J^T*J is
appended to the per-vertex candidate list already assembled for the flex
stencils, so it costs additional entries in an existing matrix rather
than a new one, and the accompanying shift -h*K*v is what damps the
stiff modes. At a 2 ms timestep this holds roughly 50x the stiffness an
explicit force of the same step could.
With the timestep no longer setting the bound, the stiffness is chosen
as a natural frequency scaled by the participating vertex mass rather
than left at a fixed 1e4, so one value suits models of any scale.
Passive handling is scoped to contacts whose every dof is a flex vertex
carried by the metric: flex against flex, flex against itself, and flex
against static geometry, which contributes no dofs of its own. For those
the Hessian is assembled in full. Contact with a body that can move
would have that body's dofs dropped from it, and is left on the
constraint solver.
The feature now requires an integrator whose constraint solve runs in
that metric, and is rejected with an error otherwise.
Add model/flex/drape.xml as the example model, replacing sphere_passive,
whose contacts no longer demonstrated the feature.
<pid kp kv|dampratio [ki imax] [slewmax]> is a PID controller with real position and velocity setpoint inputs on a single force output, plus an optional feedforward input. With a zero velocity setpoint it reproduces <position> bit-exactly; the input signature is any subset of [pos, vel, ff], selected with input="..." and recorded as mjtCtrlInput bits in
actuator_ctrlspec; absent setpoint inputs are fixed at zero, so the control vector contains no inert entries.
kp and kv are single-sourced in the affine bias parameters (biasprm[1,2]) with no gainprm mirror: every consumer of the position-servo shape
(dampratio conversion, inheritrange, qDeriv) reads one location, which is what makes the bit-exact <position> parity possible. Controller state uses dyntype 'pid' with slot-gated activations in the order [slew, integral], following the dcmotor slot idiom: slewmax (dynprm[1]) rate limits the effective position setpoint through an activation holding it;
ki (gainprm[0]) integrates the position error -- wrapped on rotational transmissions -- with anti-windup clamping of the integrand at imax (dynprm[0]). Both features require the pos input. Servo input unpacking is shared with the dcmotor controller (unpackServoInputs); per-input ranges are exposed as posrange/velrange/ffrange.
This subsumes the functionality of the mujoco.pid plugin with proper activation state: correct under all integrators, visible to keyframes, act sensors and reset. Migration: kp/ki/kd map to kp/ki/kv, plugin imax is in force units (divide by ki), slewmax carries over; the single ctrl becomes input="pos".
PiperOrigin-RevId: 957588898
Change-Id: Id2786836ca6e76f58e5b5cc8323fc23be0a53784
https://youtu.be/17XpwnqyCXs
New transmission type mjTRN_SO3: a relative orientation, targeting a ball
joint or a site+refsite pair. It is the first transmission with more than
one force output: its length is the norm of the expmap vector of the
relative rotation and its moment axes are the 3 rows of the
relative rotational Jacobian, without projecting onto per-actuator gears.
New force law mjGAIN_SO3/mjBIAS_SO3: a geodesic PD servo, force =
kp * log(q_current^-1 * q_target) - kv * velocity, exact for arbitrary axis
combinations with a unique equilibrium at every commanded orientation.
Error, moment rows and velocity all live in the child frame (joint or
site): the right-difference error is the gradient of the geodesic
potential in that frame. The parent-frame (left) error is not: driving
child-frame torques with it pumps energy at large angles, settling into
steady-spinning limit cycles (the SO3LargeAngleConvergence test). The
integrator variant stores the 3D orientation setpoint in act (actnum = 3,
re-anchored to a bounded representative at integration time). Exposed in
MJCF as <orientation joint=|site=+refsite= kp kv|dampratio>, or via
<general gaintype="so3" biastype="so3">.
The setpoint input has two charts: an expmap target (3 controls, default)
or a quaternion target (4 controls) -- <orientation input="quat">, the
first actuator with different input and output widths. The signature is
recorded in a new per-actuator field actuator_ctrlspec (mjtCtrlChart),
whose meaning is scoped by the gain type the way gain/bias parameters are;
ctrlnum is derived from it at compile time and remains the layout
authority. An explicit field rather than width inference or a prm slot:
width-as-chart cannot express same-width signatures (upcoming servo input
subsets), and prm slots are the input_mode pattern this stack retires.
The force law normalizes the commanded quaternion, making it scale- and
antipodally-invariant. The all-zero ctrl still maps to the identity via
mju_normalize4, but it is a degenerate point (a nudge of any component
commands a half-turn), so quat inputs reset to the identity quaternion:
new mj_resetCtrl sets neutral ctrl values (zero, except qw = 1), called
by mj_resetData and the viewers' Clear All. The quat chart is
restricted to dyntype 'none': integrating a quaternion setpoint linearly
is not meaningful on the manifold. New mjsActuator.ctrlspec field carries
the signature through the spec and XML round-trip.
Actuator sensors (actuatorpos/vel/frc) now report one value per force
output; dim = 3 on an SO3 actuator.
As the first actuator with nu != nactuator, this commit also makes the
viewers multi-input aware: the control sliders in simulate and studio,
which indexed per-actuator arrays by control index (out of bounds on
this model class), are generated per control and labeled with the
actuator name plus an input suffix ("orient/qw"), via the new
introspection helper mj_actuatorInputName -- the single source of truth
for input names, extended by each new multi-input type (quaternion
components are w-first: qw, qx, qy, qz). Slider ranges now honor a
defined ctrlrange even when ctrllimited is false: range is the UI hint,
limited is the clamp -- wrapped and expmap setpoints are unbounded but
still want finite sliders, while quat components are truly bounded.
The rotational demo model is orientation.xml under
test/engine/testdata/actuation/, upgraded to a three-way contrast:
per-axis wrapped servos vs an expmap-commanded vs a quat-commanded
orientation actuator, on identical checker-textured boxes. It is loaded
by the mixed-axis contrast and input-name tests, and doubles as the
viewer test model (slider groups of 3 independent, 3 grouped, 4 grouped).
PiperOrigin-RevId: 951607063
Change-Id: If235dba8e2f2ca72672e7c62531a27e967c6a373
https://youtu.be/GioWwB36XHI
The new geom attribute adhesion (units of force, signed; pair-level
override) translates the contact friction cone along its normal so
that the force origin lies strictly inside it. Consequences: each
contact can pull with up to the given force before breaking, and the
tangential friction budget becomes mu*(f_N + adhesion) -- the
Mohr-Coulomb yield condition with cohesion c = mu*adhesion -- so
lightly-squeezed grasps retain a guaranteed friction floor.
A translated cone factors exactly into {constant attractive force}
+ {original cone}, so no solver kernels change. The implementation is
this factorization: a constant attraction along contact normals
accumulated into the new mjData.qfrc_adhesion (summed into
qfrc_passive), plus a bias of adhesive contact rows' reference
acceleration (aref += R*adhesion), which makes resting penetration
exactly independent of adhesion. Contacts of adhesive pairs remain
active throughout the gap zone, producing rows with positive violation
whose reference acceleration pulls: a tether that resists pull-off
smoothly, captures objects released within the band into steady
contact, and detaches at the specified force. Adhesion values of the
two geoms combine by sum; explicit pairs override.
mj_contactForce reports the net interface force (cone force minus the
adhesive pull), whose normal component can now be negative. Negative
adhesion is allowed and produces a repulsive offset (air hockey).
PiperOrigin-RevId: 950858148
Change-Id: I879c08eba7ae501e5c0f8c2f807167344da4c2bc
These fields (`flg_gravcomp` and `flg_surfacevel`) replace the fast-path checks originally guarded by `ngravcomp` and (recently) `nsurfacevel`. Since the engine uses these integers only as flags (zero vs non-zero), migrating them to actual booleans makes them writeable from the Python bindings at runtime without violating size/dimension constraints.
The legacy integer field `ngravcomp` is marked as deprecated and will be removed in a future release.
PiperOrigin-RevId: 949779204
Change-Id: Ifab1f026063a4239302e6ad689663b611b59dda8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PdSdrqhSiZA
The new geom attribute surfacevel (6 numbers: linear and angular velocity in the geom's local frame, angular about the geom frame origin) specifies the velocity of the geom's surface material relative to the geom frame. The relative surface velocity of the two geoms is added to the tangential contact rows of efc_vel in mj_referenceConstraint, so friction drives touching bodies toward the motion of the surface: objects on a conveyor are transported at belt speed, turntables impart omega x r with torsional spin-up for condim >= 4, and surface velocities compose with each other and with body motion. The component along the contact normal is projected out: probe experiments showed that velocity-space emission chatters mass-independently and ingestion merely deepens penetration; normal-direction effects belong to force-space features.
surfacevel is interpreted in the geom frame as authored: for mesh geoms, whose compiled frame absorbs the mesh centering and principal-axes transform, the compiler re-expresses the authored value in the compiled frame.
No special interaction with sleeping: objects being transported do not fall asleep because they are moving; objects at rest on an active surface may sleep like any other resting object.
Includes showcase models (model/surfacevel/): a luggage carousel whose ring is a spinning square-profile supertorus fed by a cascade of belts with matched spinning end rollers, bags dropping in and circulating indefinitely; and a treadmill with a passive humanoid.
PiperOrigin-RevId: 948647785
Change-Id: I0c6559a91cc7ece1237eb8ac2e51986e7342d962
This CL replaces the post-hoc implicit flex correction (`flexInterp_cgsolve`) with a **linearly-implicit effective metric** `M̃ = M + (h² + h·damping)·K` carried by the CG constraint solver itself. Contact/friction forces and implicit flex elasticity are now computed against one consistent metric, instead of the solver seeing `M` and a post-solve correction changing `qacc` behind its back.
Gate (unchanged semantics): `solver="CG"` + implicit/implicitfast integrator + pyramidal cones + flex stiffness present. Newton and PGS are untouched. `solver="CG"` remains the user-facing contract — the factorization is an implementation detail of the preconditioner.
### What's in the metric
- **mjData `efm_*`** (arena, efc-like lifetime/skip semantics; built in `mj_fwdPosition`, value-refreshed in `mj_fwdVelocity`): the per-step stiffness CSR `efm_B_*`, its reverse-Cholesky factor `efm_dofid` + `efm_L_*` (nested-dissection ordered, separators-first for the reverse factorization), and the smooth-force shift `efm_c = h·K·qvel`.
- **`mjd_flexStiff_assemble`** now assembles stretch (Gauss–Newton), standard dim-2 bending, and — via the cached corotated stiffness `d->flexelem_krot` — interp stiffness (all node bodies on simple sliders: point Jacobian is I₃, `flex_centered` not required; fixed nodes drop like pins) into one dof-level CSR. `mjd_effMulAdd`/`mjd_effSolve` apply the metric, with matrix-free operator fallbacks where assembly does not apply.
- **mjModel `efm0_*`** (`nefm0dof`/`nefm0L`): the constant part of the metric factor — currently the dim-2 bending factor, computed once in `mj_setConst` — so bending-only models pay zero per-step factorization cost. Naming mirrors mjData's `efm_*` with the standard `0`-suffix (reference/constant) idiom, and is deliberately not bending-specific: future constant contributors extend it without renames.
- The solver consumes the metric through pre-shifted `qfrc_smooth` and the metric products `Ma`/`Mv`/`Mgrad`; `qacc_smooth` becomes the unconstrained minimizer of the implicit dynamics, which makes the no-constraint shortcut and the warmstart choice consistent by construction.
- **`mj_inverse` adds `B·qacc − c`**, making inverse dynamics discrete-consistent with the gated forward dynamics — exact, since the gated path has no qDeriv term (new test `ForwardTest.GatedFlexInverseConsistency`).
### Performance
All numbers: ms/step over the same 2000-step window, models as shipped on each side (old code with the old model settings vs this CL with the new ones).
The new solver path activates on exactly two shipped models — the ponchos, the only flex models that need an implicit integrator (poncho on Euler degenerates to >200 ms/step). For them, this CL trades speed for consistency: the implicit bending solve now runs inside every solver iteration, where the contact solve can see the stiffness, instead of once after the solve. Solver iterations drop because the curvature is visible, but each iteration pays for the implicit solve:
| model | before | after | solver iters/step |
|---|---|---|---|
| poncho | 2.47 | 3.30 (1.33×) | 16.8 → 11.8 |
| poncho_edgeequality | 1.96 | 2.72 (1.39×) | 13.2 → 10.0 |
What that price buys: contact forces consistent with the implicit elasticity (previously the post-hoc correction changed `qacc` after the constraint solve), discrete-consistent inverse dynamics, and the removal of the post-hoc special case from the integration path. Raising poncho's timestep from 2 to 5 ms leaves its per-step cost nearly flat, so the consistency price can be recovered by taking fewer steps where accuracy allows.
Every other flex model was measured stable on Euler at its shipped timestep and switches to it (these models predate the post-hoc integrator; implicit was never load-bearing for them). They end up equal or faster than before: bunny_multicell 0.47 → 0.40, trampoline 0.28 → 0.25, plate 1.02 → 0.99, pancake 0.34 → 0.33.
Finally, the per-step factorization makes configurations practical that the old code could only integrate explicitly: implicit stretch elasticity (`elastic2d="stretch"`/`"both"`, dim-3 solids) and factorized interp stiffness. No before/after exists for these — stock has no implicit treatment of stretch at all.
### Behavior changes
- With the post-hoc correction deleted, interp/bending models running `solver="Newton"` (or elliptic cones, or islands) now integrate flex elasticity **explicitly** (previously: post-hoc implicit). Affects e.g. `gripper_trilinear` (stable, and faster, but different semantics). Follow-up options: Newton-side metric support, or a documented fallback.
- With the gate on, `mj_forward` outputs are timestep-dependent for gated models (they answer the linearly-implicit discrete problem); `qacc_smooth` and `mj_inverse` change accordingly. Non-gated models are bit-identical (full suite green throughout).
### Validation
- 1737/1737 tests, including new: `FlexStretchDerivatives` (FD-validated GN operator), `FlexStiffAssemble`/`FlexStiffAssembleInterp` (CSR ≡ operators), `GatedFlexInverseConsistency` (fails pre-change), equivalence tests vs the old post-hoc treatment (bending matches to 2e-11).
- Fingerprint discipline throughout: bending-only models bit-exact across every refactor; permutation/kernel changes verified iteration-identical.
### Known follow-ups (not in this CL)
3×3-block sparse Cholesky kernel (the numeric factorization is index-bound; projected ~3× on the factor); mjModel persistence of the factor's symbolic pattern (rest-pose ND makes sizes compile-time); the general effective-metric mode (all solvers, all PSD-safe force classes, behind an enable flag).
PiperOrigin-RevId: 948561856
Change-Id: I8b8e32ebd0428042af71647d0470d10773bf6daf
An actuator now owns a block of consecutive controls
(actuator_ctrladr/ctrlnum, width defined by the actuator type) and a block
of consecutive force outputs (actuator_outadr/outnum, width defined by the
transmission type). Force outputs are the scalars of actuation space: one
force, length, velocity and moment row each. nout = dim(actuator_force) is
derived from transmission types; all current types have width 1, so all
three counts coincide for every existing model and behavior is bit-exact.
Array re-keying: ctrlrange/ctrllimited by nu; forcerange/forcelimited/gear/
acc0/length0/lengthrange and the moment row structure by nout; everything
else per actuator. The mjModel actuator block is re-sorted by size key.
Layout-breaking, not behavior-breaking: saved .mjb files are invalidated
(size list changed) and recompilation is required.
PiperOrigin-RevId: 948351772
Change-Id: Icbc196ffa083cb1eaa6f1a3710869c89d8f62540
The `body_sameframe`, `geom_sameframe`, and `site_sameframe` flags are now recomputed within `mj_setConst` based on the current model geometry. This allows these flags to be updated if the model's body/geom/site frames are modified after the initial compilation. Tests are added to verify the correct recomputation and its effect on forward kinematics. The compiler also checks that its initial computation matches the result of `mj_setConst`.
Fixes#3029, #1628.
PiperOrigin-RevId: 941758649
Change-Id: I7b995f8c67ad305bca5b52732436ba578c905d73
with a preconditioned Conjugate Gradient (CG) solver that operates
on the full system matrix.
The previous approach extracted flex DOFs into a reduced banded system,
factored it separately, and overwrote the global solve. This required
precomputed bandwidth (makeFlexBandwidth), parent-joint detection,
coupling corrections, and a FlexInterpContext struct — and only worked
for standalone flex trees without parent joints.
The new CG solver uses the already-factored global system (M - h*qDeriv)
as a preconditioner and adds the flex stiffness contribution via
matrix-free products (mjd_flexInterp_mulKD/mulK). This handles any
kinematic configuration — including flexes attached to articulated
chains or with parent joints — without sparsity pattern restrictions.
Before (`bunny_multicell`):
```
Simulation time : 50.80 s
Steps per second : 197
Realtime factor : 0.20 x
Time per step : 5080.3 µs
CG iters / step : 3.16
Contacts / step : 31.04
Constraints / step : 124.15
Degrees of freedom : 178
Dynamic memory usage : 0.4% of 100M
```
After:
```
Simulation time : 9.52 s
Steps per second : 1051
Realtime factor : 1.05 x
Time per step : 951.7 µs
CG iters / step : 3.21
Contacts / step : 30.90
Constraints / step : 123.61
Degrees of freedom : 178
Dynamic memory usage : 0.3% of 100M
```
PiperOrigin-RevId: 913758038
Change-Id: If5aa617b2d535c86aec9bd71c9e0003a2b38bdd7
Do not allow a mix of `elastic2d != none` with `dof = trilinear` since the latter assumes 3d elasticity.
Also, do not assume that `flex_interp > 0` in the engine. This will enable to use, e.g., `flex_interp = -1` to mean a linear surface finite element instead of a 3d finite element which is currently identified with `flex_interp = 1`.
PiperOrigin-RevId: 903852035
Change-Id: Ia6290b4a05e9e510ffb7f36d141cd525b40d3110
The flex interpolation stiffness matrix within the implicit/implicitfast solvers is now built and factorized in a banded format instead of a dense one. This involves:
- Calculating the bandwidth based on the sparsity of the mass/damping matrix and the connectivity within flex cells.
- Allocating and populating a banded matrix `H`.
- Using `mju_cholFactorBand` and `mju_cholSolveBand` for factorization and solving.
This change improves performance for flexes with many DOFs but local coupling.
PiperOrigin-RevId: 901297952
Change-Id: I3efe06353d1903ea65ab30dc49685cede228bb68
These flexes use only 24 DOFs (3 per vertex of the bounding box), while colliding with the full high resolution mesh.
On an 8x8x8 cube, the performance using DOFs at all vertices is
```
Simulation time : 18.74 s
Steps per second : 533
Realtime factor : 0.53 x
Time per step : 1874.4 µs
Contacts per step : 114.88
Constraints per step : 3322.51
Degrees of freedom : 1536
```
With the new implementation, it is the following:
```
Simulation time : 1.82 s
Steps per second : 5507
Realtime factor : 5.51 x
Time per step : 181.6 µs
Contacts per step : 38.84
Constraints per step : 155.36
Degrees of freedom : 24
```
PiperOrigin-RevId: 721008829
Change-Id: I833df027527db578d86667cc4b24295bcf6f7d22
`flex_xvert0` stored the Cartesian position of the vertices in `qpos0`. This array was unused, so it is now replaced with `flex_vert0`, which still contains the positions of the vertices, but normalized on the bounding box of the flex so that the coordinates are in `[0,1]^m->flex_dim`. This will be useful in the future for using different interpolation methods for computing flex deformations.
PiperOrigin-RevId: 691779361
Change-Id: I5c4223103cd4558f4e268fe3e8d8177541e4754f
These functions names and argument ordering are more consistent with the rest of the API.
PiperOrigin-RevId: 643788290
Change-Id: I783eda8021b80b82098e23ed95669b102bb82508
Alessio