Editor’s word: This put up is part of our Meet the Omnivore collection, which options particular person creators and builders who use NVIDIA Omniverse to speed up their 3D workflows and create digital worlds.

Whereas nonetheless in grad college, Antonio Serrano-Muñoz has helped writer papers spanning planetary gravities, AI-powered prognosis of rheumatoid arthritis and robots that exactly monitor millimetric-sized walkers, like ants.

Now, the Ph.D. pupil in utilized robotics at Mondragon College in northern Spain, is utilizing robotics and AI in remanufacturing to deal with problems with local weather change and air pollution.

In brief, Serrano-Muñoz is busy discovering distinctive methods to use know-how to advanced, real-world points — and, in his free time, he makes extensions for NVIDIA Omniverse, a platform for real-time 3D design collaboration and world simulation.

Omniverse Extensions are core constructing blocks that allow anybody to create and lengthen the performance of Omniverse Apps to fulfill the precise wants of their workflows with only a few traces of Python code.

Serrano-Muñoz has created six open-source Omniverse Extensions that may be accessed on GitHub, one in every of which reinforces the capabilities of NVIDIA Isaac Sim, an Omniverse-powered software framework for creating photorealistic, bodily correct digital environments by which to develop, practice and simulate AI robots.

“For the reason that starting of my Ph.D. research, I made a decision to work with Isaac Sim to simulate robots,” Serrano-Muñoz mentioned. “It provides a robust, real-time simulation platform with an ultra-realistic physics engine and graphics — in addition to a clear, easy software programming interface that makes it simple to work together with the entire system.”

Omniverse for Robotics Simulation

Serrano-Muñoz has pursued robotics for so long as he can keep in mind. Rising up in Cuba, he all the time fiddled with electronics, and he fell deeper in love with know-how when he started coding in school.

“Robots can help people with strenuous, high-precision, repetitive and typically hazardous duties,” Serrano-Muñoz mentioned. “They’ve the potential to enhance our lives, and I hope my work advances robotics in a approach that permits us to construct a greater current and obtain a greater future.”

He believes Omniverse is essential to his doctoral research in utilized robotics.

“Performing real-time, graphically real looking simulations of robotics environments wasn’t potential earlier than Omniverse,” he mentioned. “The platform opens the door to a brand new period of revolutionary modifications in robotics, simulation and real-time collaboration.”

Omniverse hyperlinks specialists of all types — engineers, designers, content material creators — for the event of simulation programs, he added. Key for that is Common Scene Description (USD), an open supply 3D scene description and extensible file framework serving because the frequent language for digital worlds.

“USD performs an necessary function within the technique of authoring, composing and studying a hierarchically organized scene to create and manipulate its rendering parts and objects,” Serrano-Muñoz mentioned.

Extending Omniverse for Isaac Sim

Utilizing NVIDIA Omniverse, the developer has created robotic simulations for industrial use circumstances and a digital twin of Mondragon College’s laboratory for robotics prototyping.

And whereas engaged on such initiatives, Serrano-Muñoz wished to combine with Isaac Sim a software he was already conversant in: Robotic Working System, or ROS, a set of software program libraries for constructing robotic functions. So, he created an Omniverse Extension to allow simply that.

The extension lets customers manipulate simulated robotic programs within the Omniverse-powered Isaac Sim software through ROS management interfaces. ROS MoveIt, a movement planning framework for robots, can be utilized together with Isaac Sim’s dynamic management extension and PhysX capabilities, which deliver bodily accuracy to high-fidelity robotics simulations.

“It’s simple to develop code with out leaving the Omniverse Package,” Serrano-Muñoz mentioned. “Omniverse Extensions include a system-wide integration API, set up, activation and reload mechanisms to enhance the performance of Omniverse Apps.”

This specific extension for ROS, he added, boosts agile prototyping for robotics functions — which is additional accelerated by his NVIDIA RTX 3080 Laptop computer GPU — making his workflow quicker than ever.

Hear extra from Serrano-Muñoz about utilizing digital twins for industrial robotics by watching his NVIDIA GTC session on demand. And watch his Neighborhood Highlight on the Omniverse Twitch channel taking place Aug. 3 at 11 a.m. PT.

Take part on the Creation

Creators and builders the world over can obtain NVIDIA Omniverse free of charge, and enterprise groups can use the platform for his or her 3D initiatives.

Builders like Serrano-Muñoz will be part of NVIDIA at SIGGRAPH, a world pc graphics convention operating Aug. 8-11. Watch the Omniverse neighborhood livestream at SIGGRAPH on Tuesday, Aug. 9, at midday PT to learn the way Omniverse and different design and visualization applied sciences are driving breakthroughs in graphics and GPU-accelerated software program.

Plus, anybody can undergo the inaugural #ExtendOmniverse developer contest by means of Friday, Aug. 19. Create an Omniverse Extension utilizing Omniverse Code for an opportunity to win an NVIDIA RTX GPU.

Take a look at paintings from different “Omnivores” and submit initiatives within the gallery. Join your workflows to Omniverse with software program from Adobe, Autodesk, Epic Video games, Maxon, Reallusion and extra.

Comply with NVIDIA Omniverse on Instagram, Twitter, YouTube and Medium for extra sources and inspiration. Take a look at the Omniverse boards, and be part of our Discord server and Twitch channel to speak with the neighborhood.