Sim-to-Real Robotics Showcase: Newton + Isaac Sim and Isaac Lab with Jetson Racing Demo
This OpenUSD Insiders livestream is a community showcase focused on a key robotics challenge: moving from simulation to the real world without breaking fidelity. The session features two practical sim-to-real showcases built on NVIDIA Isaac Sim and Isaac Lab: Showcase 1: Newton and the sim-to-real gap (Mustafa Muhammadi) Mustafa breaks down why the simulator landscape is fragmented and where the sim-to-real gap comes from. Showcase 2: Low-cost autonomous racing platform (Rob Mure + Henan “Papa Chuck” Barbosa) Rob and Papa Chuck present an accessible autonomous RC racing platform designed for hands-on learning and real deployment. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Key Moments: 0:19 Welcome and session overview: sim-to-real without losing fidelity 0:39 Showcase lineup: Newton and autonomous racing platform 2:44 Guest intro: Mustafa Muhammadi 4:29 Newton overview and why simulation is fragmented 5:14 What simulation means across industries 6:08 Talk roadmap and key topics 7:20 Simulator landscape: ANSYS and MuJoCo context 8:28 Why Isaac Lab lowered the barrier for robot training 10:52 Why specialized robotics simulation is needed 11:32 Sim-to-real factors: physics, environment, digital twin, deployment 12:50 Newton focus: openness, system identification, coupling 13:15 Newton openness: Python and modular solvers 14:31 System identification via differentiability 15:54 One-way vs two-way coupling explained 17:27 Cloth and soft body examples discussed 18:14 Multi-material interactions and coupling examples 19:16 Policy failure example: one-way trained vs two-way inference 20:27 Why coupling matters for manipulation 20:52 Integrations mentioned: Mimic Kit and RoboVerse 22:18 Wrap-up and next steps for trying Newton 23:21 Q&A with Mustafa 28:44 Transition to racing platform showcase 29:58 Intro: Rob Mure and sim-to-real background 32:01 Intro: Henan “Papa Chuck” Barbosa 34:04 Papa Chuck background: RL and simulation journey 36:17 Project video: Goat Racer overview 41:08 Study group callout and community feedback 42:06 Slides: lessons learned in sim-to-real modeling 44:10 Deployment note: ONNX export for topology and weights 47:24 Open-loop validation and oscillation debugging 49:44 DGX Spark training walkthrough 51:05 Remote debugging workflow on-vehicle 54:12 Live training run and policy test 55:55 Panera Bread meetup photos and community lab culture 58:08 GoatConf and community plans 1:00:07 Isaac Sim and Isaac Lab study group reminder 1:01:30 GTC updates and conference resources 1:09:40 Community links and ambassador news 1:11:24 Closing remarks and thanks ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 📆 Check out the full calendar for all of our upcoming events → https://nvda.ws/3JqaWnA ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ⬇️Get Started → https://nvda.ws/4cZAZO1 👀Explore OpenUSD → https://nvda.ws/3CeozBQ 👥Join the Community → https://nvda.ws/3ZMfc6e #IsaacSim #IsaacLab #Robotics #Sim2Real #RobotLearning #ReinforcementLearning #ImitationLearning #Jetson #AutonomousVehicles #DigitalTwins #PhysicsSimulation #EmbodiedAI #DeveloperCommunity #GTC2026 #OpenSourceRobotics