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Delegate the joint-space impedance law (proportional-derivative with optional inertial and gravity compensation) to Newton's model-free joint-impedance controller (newton.controllers.ControllerJointImpedanceModelFree). Command shaping and the gain schedule stay in Isaac Lab, so the public configuration, command, and output contracts are unchanged; solves run through float32 Warp bridge buffers. The Newton import is deferred to controller construction so importing the module never requires Newton. Also fix per-DOF gain-limit broadcasting in the variable impedance modes, which previously indexed the robot dimension and raised for any DOF count other than two.
Add an integration parity test covering the fixed, variable_kp, and variable impedance modes across both command types and the inertial and gravity compensation flags, comparing the Newton-backed controller against the previous Torch impedance law. The test skips when newton.controllers is unavailable. Add the accompanying changelog fragment for the backend swap and the gain-limit fix.
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…llers (#7854) # Description Added Newton 1.6 model-free differential IK, joint impedance, and OSC through `cfg.use_newton=True`; the original Lab controllers remain the default. Consolidates #6693, #7482, and the differential-IK portion of #6654. Ackermann remains in its separate draft. Both paths share constructor, command, and compute signatures and return independent results. Controller selection is independent of the physics backend. Newton initializes from compute inputs, or from supplied DiffIK limits when avoidance is enabled. Existing callers and tutorials retain their setup; SO101 retains its wrist-orientation mask through a Newton-only Jacobian adaptation. Newton uses float32 computation. Its OSC selects motion before inertia decoupling, requires at least six joints for decoupling, and retains motion-force coupling that fails three hybrid force-tracking cases. Those Newton cases run as strict expected failures; Lab cases remain active, and thresholds are unchanged. Convergence checks now apply masks in the actual control frame. Newton DiffIK requires joint limits before the first compute when avoidance is enabled; later limit updates retain its buffers. Its `pinv` also rejects fewer controlled joints than active task axes. These differences prevent blanket replacement of the Lab path. Joint impedance retains the same control law, subject to Newton's precision boundary. Includes the position-only SVD and joint-impedance gain-clamping/batched-inertia fixes. ## Type of change - New feature, bug fix, documentation update ## Release backport - [ ] <!-- backport-active-release --> Backport to the active release branch ## Validation - Post-merge CPU controller suite: **204 passed, 3 CUDA capture tests skipped**. Formatting and changelog checks passed. - Focused GPU hybrid simulation with current controller/test overlays, 16 environments: **3 Lab passed, 3 Newton xfailed**. This was not a full-repository run of the final head. - Warning-free current documentation build passed. - Matched full-policy Lab/Newton videos were recorded for Reach-Franka-OSC on PhysX/MJWarp and Drawer DiffIK on MJWarp. SO101 keyboard rollout and training equivalence remain unverified. - Fresh Docker/GPU CI requested for the updated head; results pending. ## Checklist - [x] Contribution guidelines followed; contributor already listed - [x] Pre-commit checks run with `uv run isaaclab -f` - [x] Documentation and package changelog fragments updated - [x] Both-backend and regression tests added - [ ] Newton hybrid force-tracking limitations resolved - [ ] Changes generate no new warnings --------- Co-authored-by: Mustafa H <34825877+StafaH@users.noreply.github.com> Co-authored-by: Mustafa Haiderbhai <mhaiderbhai@nvidia.com> Co-authored-by: Claude Opus 5.5 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
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Superseded by #7854, which consolidates the three supported controllers on the released Newton API. Ackermann remains a separate draft in #6654.
Description
Delegates
JointImpedanceController's control law to Newton's in-core model-freejoint-impedance controller while preserving the public interface.
JointImpedanceControllernow evaluates its impedance law — the PD term plusoptional inertial decoupling and gravity compensation — through
newton.controllers.ControllerJointImpedanceModelFree, using stable Torch/Warpbridge buffers and float32 solves. The public configuration, command
(
set_command), and output (compute) contracts are unchanged.p_abs/p_reltargets and position offset), joint-limitclamping of the target, and the gain schedule (
Kd = 2·sqrt(Kp)·zetaplus thevariable-impedance gain resolution) stay in Isaac Lab, since these are Isaac Lab
configuration and action-space semantics.
set_command: thevariableandvariable_kpgain clamps indexed the robot dimension instead of the limitdimension and raised for any joint count other than two.
Dependencies: requires the in-core
newton.controllersmodule introduced bynewton-physics/newton#3598. The Newton import is deferred to controller
construction, so importing the module never requires Newton; only instantiating
the controller does. This PR should remain a draft until #3598 merges and the
Newton pin advances.
Validation: a new parity test evaluates the Newton-backed controller against
the previous Torch impedance law across all three impedance modes, both command
types, and the inertial/gravity compensation flags (24 cases), matching within
1e-4. The test skips when
newton.controllersis unavailable.pre-commitpasses.Type of change
Checklist
pre-commitchecks with./isaaclab.sh --formatsource/<pkg>/changelog.d/CONTRIBUTORS.mdor my name already exists there