monitor: Newton physics engine support

[MiaoDX]

Context

NVIDIA released Newton 1.0 at GTC 2026 — built on Warp, claiming 475x faster than MJX, Apache 2.0, Linux Foundation governance. If it becomes the new standard GPU physics engine, roboharness needs a NewtonBackend.

Priority: Not urgent. Newton just hit 1.0 and the API may still be changing. Monitor community adoption first. Roboharness's MuJoCo support + Gymnasium wrapper already covers most scenarios.

Action

• Monitor Newton community adoption and API stability
• Re-evaluate in Q3/Q4 2026

References

• Roadmap: docs/roadmap-2026-q2.md §E

[MiaoDX]

Monitoring spike complete (PR #181)

Research done and documented in docs/spike-newton-backend.md.

What we know (April 2026)

• Newton 1.0 GA (GTC 2026): built on NVIDIA Warp, Apache 2.0, Linux Foundation governance (NVIDIA + Google DeepMind + Disney Research)
• Performance: 475× faster than MJX for manipulation, 252× for locomotion (on RTX PRO 6000)
• Requires NVIDIA GPU (Maxwell+, driver 545+) — no CPU path on Linux/Windows
• Isaac Lab v3.0 already uses Newton as its "kit-less" backend
• RoboVerse MetaSim lists Newton as a supported simulator
• Community adoption outside NVIDIA ecosystem is still forming; ~2k GitHub stars

Fastest path to Newton coverage today

No new code needed. Isaac Lab's Newton-backed environments expose a gymnasium.Env interface, so RobotHarnessWrapper wraps them directly. Isaac Lab users training with Newton already get roboharness checkpoints and visual reports for free.

Integration plan when adoption criteria are met

Two paths (detailed in docs/spike-newton-backend.md):

1. Option A — via RoboVerse MetaSim (zero Newton-specific code if MetaSim integration is done first)
2. Option B — direct NewtonBackend (~250–400 lines, all 7 SimulatorBackend methods mapped)

Adoption criteria (re-evaluate Q3/Q4 2026)

Implement when ≥ 2 of:

• GitHub stars ≥ 5 000
• API v2.0 with stable documentation
• Isaac Lab drops MuJoCo as primary CPU backend
• Community request filed in roboharness issues
• RoboVerse MetaSim path blocked

Open questions still unresolved

• Newton's state save/restore API (needed for checkpoint rollback)
• Camera sensor headless mode (pixel buffer access without a viewer)
• macOS CPU-only fallback behaviour

---

Generated by Claude Code