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docs: comprehensive README overhaul — add pre-alpha status, badges, quick start, and community best practices#461

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hajan wants to merge 1 commit intoisaac-sim:mainfrom
hajan:improve-readme
Open

docs: comprehensive README overhaul — add pre-alpha status, badges, quick start, and community best practices#461
hajan wants to merge 1 commit intoisaac-sim:mainfrom
hajan:improve-readme

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@hajan
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@hajan hajan commented Mar 3, 2026

Summary

This PR replaces the current sparse README with a comprehensive version that follows GitHub community best practices and aligns with the style of the parent Isaac Lab repository.

What Changed

Added:

  • Status badges (pre-alpha, version, Isaac Sim/Lab compatibility, Python, platform, license)
  • Prominent [!WARNING] callout making clear this is pre-alpha — not EA or GA
  • "Why Isaac Lab Arena?" motivation section explaining the problem being solved
  • Key Features section
  • Quick Start with copy-paste installation commands (clone, Docker, verify)
  • Full usage example with annotated code (preserved from docs)
  • Project structure tree
  • Version compatibility table (Isaac Lab Arena ↔ Isaac Sim ↔ Isaac Lab)
  • Dedicated "Project Status" section with table clarifying what pre-alpha means
  • Planned enhancements roadmap (post v0.1.x)
  • Ecosystem section linking to Lightwheel tasks, LeRobot Hub, RoboTwin
  • Support channels (Discussions, Issues, NVIDIA Forums, Discord)
  • Citation BibTeX block
  • Acknowledgements section

Preserved:

  • Core description and composable architecture explanation (Scene/Embodiment/Task)
  • Usage example from existing documentation
  • Apache 2.0 license reference
  • Contributing section (with link to existing CONTRIBUTING.md)

Motivation

The current README is ~15 lines and gives newcomers very little context about what the project does, how to get started, or what maturity level to expect. For a pre-alpha community release explicitly seeking feedback, a thorough README is essential for onboarding contributors and setting correct expectations.

Signed-off-by: hajan <spencer.m.huang@gmail.com>
├── isaaclab_arena/ # Core framework (environments, tasks, scenes, embodiments)
├── isaaclab_arena_g1/ # Unitree G1 humanoid embodiment + examples
├── isaaclab_arena_gr00t/ # GR00T policy integration
├── docker/ # Docker configurations and launch scripts
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@cvolkcvolk cvolkcvolk Mar 4, 2026

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Nit, missing the following packages

  - isaaclab_arena_environments/  # concrete environment definitions
  - isaaclab_arena_examples/ # policy and relation examples


<div align="center">

Made with ❤️ by the NVIDIA Robotics Team
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Any concern of keeping this? It fits our team's vibe.

| Isaac Lab Arena | Isaac Lab | Isaac Sim | Python |
|-----------------|-----------|-----------|--------|
| `main` branch | 2.3.0 | 5.1.0 | ≥ 3.10 |
| `release/0.1.1` | 2.3.0 | 5.1.0 | ≥ 3.10 |
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Sim is actually 5.0 for release/0.1.1. We didn't pick up the changes as the train departed too soon.
But now main is with Sim 5.1.

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This looks great! Thanks for adding.

@xyao-nv xyao-nv mentioned this pull request Mar 5, 2026
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@hajan I granted you Maintainer status. You might need to push your (forked) improve-readme branch directly to isaac-sim/IsaacLab-Arena

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3 participants