Every step, the flex block of the implicit effective metric M + K was
factorized by sparse Cholesky, because K depends on the configuration. On
model/flex/bag.xml, added here, that is roughly half the step, against a
comparable share for the constraint solve it exists to accelerate.
Keep only the metric's per-vertex 3x3 diagonal blocks, prefactored. Neither
consumer needs the exact inverse: the CG constraint solver only wants a
preconditioner, and qacc_smooth can come from an iterative solve using those
blocks. They are O(n) to build and to apply, but weaker, so CG runs about twice
the iterations and qacc_smooth becomes an iteration rather than a direct solve.
Net, the bag model steps roughly twice as fast.
The preconditioner, by metric state. Inactive, meaning no flex elasticity or an
explicit integrator: M^-1, unchanged. Bending only (nefmK == 0): M^-1 plus the
exact constant bending factor from mj_setConst on the dofs it covers,
unchanged; that factor is built at model compile time and costs nothing per
step. Per-step stiffness: M^-1 plus the 3x3 blocks, where before it was a
per-step sparse Cholesky, or, when M couples across the flex block, an inner
PCG of up to 50 iterations run once per outer CG iteration.
Only models carrying per-step stretch stiffness change in wall-clock. Both
ponchos hold their timing and take slightly fewer CG iterations than before,
because the preconditioner is now symmetric: it applies M^-1 and the covered
blocks to disjoint sets of dofs, where previously the two overlapped and the
operator was not symmetric, which PCG requires.
mjd_effSolve is the accurate solve of (M + K)x = b; what used to carry that
name only preconditions and is now mjd_effPrec. Its CG guarded the division by
pAp with mjMINVAL, an absolute floor on a quantity that scales with the square
of the right-hand side, so a small b aborted the solve while the curvature was
healthy: four flex models were quietly left short of tolerance. For an SPD
metric the guard is positivity, and with that the same solves converge. The qacc_smooth call site in
mj_fwdAcceleration is textually unchanged but now reaches the iterative solve,
which converges on opt.tolerance rather than a hardcoded threshold, floored in
mjUSESINGLE builds where the squared target is unreachable in float. Reaching
the iteration cap names the ill-conditioned flex stiffness and then reports it
through mjWARN_INERTIA, rather than returning an under-converged result.
Covered dofs are located by walking the covered rows of the stiffness matrix,
as they need not be 3-aligned from dof 0: any joint declared before a flexcomp
shifts them.
mjData.efm_L_rownnz, efm_L_rowadr and efm_L_colind described the sparsity of
the deleted factorization and are removed: left NULL with nonzero mjxmacro
extents they made the Python bindings hand back uninitialized arrays.
efm_active loses the value 2 for the same reason, nothing selects a solve path
on preconditioner exactness any more. Both are recorded under breaking changes.
model/flex/bag.xml is added because no shipped model carried per-step stretch
stiffness. The ponchos are bending-only and trampoline.xml uses an explicit
integrator, so the metric never activates there. It is excluded from
WriteReadCompareTest: stretch stiffness amplifies rest geometry that XML rounds
on save.
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
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 field now stores either an approximate or exact diagonal of the constraint matrix A, so the name is made more general.
PiperOrigin-RevId: 924244954
Change-Id: I62b2f76531fb88b7b3bf96e6769940197596702b
This is the correct location, this enum is only used in `mjData`, not `mjModel`.
PiperOrigin-RevId: 798860951
Change-Id: I48b9a2afc831bd9a6966cc9586429fd03605bdd2
Introduced in March 2025 as a temporary measure, this is not considered a breaking change.
PiperOrigin-RevId: 758311298
Change-Id: Ia08857c18b791f6a62a2d8d136b45fc075507b93
Also fix the mjxmacro_test to correctly assert that all array extents defined in the X macros can be correctly parsed from field comments.
PiperOrigin-RevId: 747808525
Change-Id: I0b08dc263f8a46118a07200ae044d6c491207245
Alessio