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What is sim1?

internrobotics/sim1 — explained in plain English

Analysis updated 2026-05-18

141PythonAudience · researcherComplexity · 5/5LicenseSetup · hard

In one sentence

A research simulator for generating synthetic robot training data on deformable objects like cloth, from an academic paper on physics-aligned simulation.

Mindmap

mindmap
  root((SIM1))
    What it does
      Physics-aligned simulation
      Cloth manipulation
      Synthetic data generation
      Teleoperation
    Tech stack
      Newton
      Warp
      CUDA
    Use cases
      Robot training data
      Research reproduction
      LeRobot export
    Audience
      Robotics researchers
      ML researchers
    Setup
      Conda environment
      Clone with submodules
      Download assets

Code map

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filefunction / class

What do people build with it?

USE CASE 1

Generate large-scale synthetic training data for robot manipulation without real demonstrations.

USE CASE 2

Teleoperate a simulated dual-arm robot manipulating cloth in real time.

USE CASE 3

Export training trajectories in LeRobot-compatible formats.

USE CASE 4

Reproduce or extend the SIM1 paper's experiments on deformable-object simulation.

What is it built with?

PythonNewtonWarpCUDALeRobot

How does it compare?

internrobotics/sim1nvlabs/isaaclabeurekamurphylmf/unish
Stars141138145
LanguagePythonPythonPython
Last pushed2025-10-28
MaintenanceQuiet
Setup difficultyhardmoderatehard
Complexity5/54/55/5
Audienceresearcherresearcherresearcher

Figures from each repo's GitHub metadata at analysis time.

How do you get it running?

Difficulty · hard Time to first run · 1day+

Requires a CUDA GPU, Conda, cloning with submodules, and downloading large asset files before use.

Use freely for any purpose, including commercial use, as long as you keep the copyright and license notice.

So what is it?

SIM1 is a research codebase from InternRobotics that accompanies an academic paper about a physics based simulator for robots handling cloth and other deformable objects, such as folding or manipulating fabric with two robotic arms. The core idea, as described in the README, is that this simulator can generate large amounts of realistic training data for robot learning without needing real world demonstrations for every scenario, because its physics closely match reality. It is built on top of two existing physics and simulation projects, called Newton and Warp, and the repository covers the entire pipeline from interactive teleoperation and synthetic data generation through to rendering and exporting data in a format compatible with LeRobot, a popular robot learning framework. This is unambiguously a tool for robotics and machine learning researchers rather than casual users. Installation requires Python 3.11 managed through Conda, and CUDA 12.4 or newer if GPU acceleration is desired. The setup process involves cloning the repository with its submodules included, running a provided setup script that installs all necessary dependencies, and then running a separate script to download required assets such as robot models and cloth simulation files, which the README notes must happen before any data generation can occur. Once installed, the project offers a keyboard controlled interactive teleoperation mode, where a person can manually operate a simulated dual arm robot to manipulate cloth, with an option to stream this session over a websocket for remote viewing and control. There is also a full data generation pipeline, run through a single script, that produces synthetic training trajectories by generating data, smoothing it, replaying it in two different export formats, and filtering it before it is ready for use. The project is released under the Apache 2.0 license, a permissive open source license allowing reuse and modification with proper attribution, including for commercial purposes. Given the heavy dependence on GPU hardware and physics simulation libraries, getting this running is a substantial undertaking rather than a quick install.

Copy-paste prompts

Prompt 1
Help me set up the Conda environment and run setup.sh for SIM1.
Prompt 2
Walk me through downloading the required assets before running data generation.
Prompt 3
Explain how the teleoperation_app.py keyboard controls map to robot arm movement.
Prompt 4
Help me run the full data generation pipeline with run_pipeline.sh.
Prompt 5
What does the WebSocket streaming mode do for remote teleoperation?

Frequently asked questions

What is sim1?

A research simulator for generating synthetic robot training data on deformable objects like cloth, from an academic paper on physics-aligned simulation.

What language is sim1 written in?

Mainly Python. The stack also includes Python, Newton, Warp.

What license does sim1 use?

Use freely for any purpose, including commercial use, as long as you keep the copyright and license notice.

How hard is sim1 to set up?

Setup difficulty is rated hard, with roughly 1day+ to a first successful run.

Who is sim1 for?

Mainly researcher.

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