[Bug]: unitree_g1.yml: cspace lists hand joints that are pruned from the kinematic tree, breaking benchmark/ik_benchmark.py on a clean install

[believein5]

Prerequisites

• I have searched existing issues and discussions and could not find a duplicate.
• I have read the relevant section of the documentation.
• I can reproduce this on the latest main (or the most recent release).

Bug summary

Running the shipped benchmark/ik_benchmark.py on a fresh checkout of main
fails immediately on the first robot (unitree_g1.yml) with a cspace
validation error. Ten hand joints ({left,right}_hand_{thumb_0,thumb_1,thumb_2,middle_0,middle_1}_joint)
are listed under cspace.joint_names in unitree_g1.yml but are not on any
base_link → tool_frame chain, and the yml has no lock_joints section, so
the validator added in #678 rejects them. The other robots
(dual_ur10e.yml, franka.yml) in the benchmark are never reached.

Root cause: run_full_config_collision_free_ik sets
robot_file["kinematics"]["collision_link_names"] = None before the first
call. This is normalized to [] in kinematics_loader_cfg.py:168, so
_build_chain in kinematics_loader.py only walks the chains to the four
tool_frames of unitree_g1.yml
({right,left}_hand_index_1_link, {right,left}_ankle_roll_link).
The thumb/middle branches never enter self.joint_names, and the cspace
validator raises. Before #678 these dangling cspace joints were silently
ignored, so the benchmark used to work.

Steps to reproduce

git clone https://github.com/NVlabs/curobo.git
cd curobo
# install per docs/getting-started/installation.rst, then:
python benchmark/ik_benchmark.py

Expected behavior

The script iterates robot_list = ["unitree_g1.yml", "dual_ur10e.yml", "franka.yml"]
and writes curobo_ik.yml with IK benchmark timing / success stats for each robot.

Actual behavior / error output

running for robot:  unitree_g1.yml
unitree_g1.yml 100
[ERROR] [curobo] cspace contains joints that are not active in the configured tree and are not explicitly locked: ['left_hand_thumb_0_joint', 'left_hand_thumb_1_joint', 'left_hand_thumb_2_joint', 'left_hand_middle_0_joint', 'left_hand_middle_1_joint', 'right_hand_thumb_0_joint', 'right_hand_thumb_1_joint', 'right_hand_thumb_2_joint', 'right_hand_middle_0_joint', 'right_hand_middle_1_joint']
NoneType: None
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/home/.../curobo/benchmark/ik_benchmark.py", line 279, in <module>
    run_benchmark()
  File "/home/.../curobo/benchmark/ik_benchmark.py", line 216, in run_benchmark
    dt_cu_ik, succ, p_err, q_err = run_full_config_collision_free_ik(
  File "/home/.../curobo/benchmark/ik_benchmark.py", line 72, in run_full_config_collision_free_ik
    config = IKSolverCfg.create(
  File "/home/.../curobo/curobo/_src/solver/solver_ik_cfg.py", line 236, in create
    resolve_yaml_configs(
  File "/home/.../curobo/curobo/_src/solver/solver_core_cfg.py", line 233, in resolve_yaml_configs
    robot_config = RobotCfg.create(
  File "/home/.../curobo/curobo/_src/types/robot.py", line 88, in create
    data_dict["kinematics"] = KinematicsCfg.from_config(
  File "/home/.../curobo/curobo/_src/robot/kinematics/kinematics_cfg.py", line 227, in from_config
    generator = KinematicsLoader(config)
  File "/home/.../curobo/curobo/_src/robot/loader/kinematics_loader.py", line 66, in __init__
    self.initialize_tensors()
  File "/home/.../curobo/curobo/_src/robot/loader/kinematics_loader.py", line 130, in initialize_tensors
    self._append_lock_joint_state(self._get_validated_cspace_lock_joints())
  File "/home/.../curobo/curobo/_src/robot/loader/kinematics_loader.py", line 637, in _get_validated_cspace_lock_joints
    log_and_raise(
  File "/home/.../curobo/curobo/_src/util/logging.py", line 106, in log_and_raise
    raise exception_type(txt)
ValueError: cspace contains joints that are not active in the configured tree and are not explicitly locked: ['left_hand_thumb_0_joint', 'left_hand_thumb_1_joint', 'left_hand_thumb_2_joint', 'left_hand_middle_0_joint', 'left_hand_middle_1_joint', 'right_hand_thumb_0_joint', 'right_hand_thumb_1_joint', 'right_hand_thumb_2_joint', 'right_hand_middle_0_joint', 'right_hand_middle_1_joint']

cuRobo version + commit SHA

0.8.0.post1.dev42 8e734f3 (8e734f3, tip of origin/main)

Installation method

Source — CUDA 13 + PyTorch (uv pip install .[cu13-torch])

Kernel backend

cuda_core (default, runtime compilation)

Python version

3.11.15

PyTorch version (if installed)

2.9.1+cu128 torch.version.cuda = 12.8

GPU / driver / CUDA toolkit

GPU: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 Driver: 595.84 (nvidia-smi reports CUDA Version: 13.2) nvcc: CUDA 13.0.88 (release 13.0, V13.0.88)

Operating system

Ubuntu 24.04.3 LTS (Noble Numbat), kernel 7.0.0-28-generic

Isaac Sim version (if applicable)

No response

Additional context

Bisected to commit ac5f931 ("add cspace validation to kinematics loader (#678)").
Before that commit the benchmark ran end-to-end; the new validator now
(correctly) flags a pre-existing inconsistency between ik_benchmark.py and
unitree_g1.yml.

Only robots whose cspace.joint_names includes joints that do not lie on
any base_link → tool_frame chain are affected. Under the shipped configs
that is only unitree_g1.yml — franka.yml and dual_ur10e.yml are fine.

Two possible fixes:

1. In benchmark/ik_benchmark.py::run_full_config_collision_free_ik, drop
   the robot_file["kinematics"]["collision_link_names"] = None override.
   self_collision_check=False and scene_model=None already skip runtime
   collision cost; leaving collision_link_names intact keeps the tree
   and cspace consistent. Smallest change.

2. Alternatively, populate lock_joints in that same code path with the
   ten cspace-only hand joints so the validator accepts them.

[wantzjt]

Opened a PR for option 1 from this issue: keep the G1 YAML kinematics intact and skip the collision_link_names/lock_joints null-out. Collision cost is already gated by self_collision_check and scene_model. https://github.com/NVlabs/curobo/pull/