Evaluate Lightwheel SimReady assets for kitchen environment fixtures

[siddhss5]

Summary

Evaluated Lightwheel SimReady Assets (259 assets, 3.2GB) for potential integration. These are articulated kitchen appliances in USD format - a different asset class than our current small graspable objects.

Asset Inventory

243 Manipulation Assets across 14 categories:

Category	Count	Examples
Refrigerator	27	Full-size fridges with doors
Microwave	27	Countertop microwaves with doors
Toaster	25	Pop-up toasters
ToasterOven	25	Countertop ovens with doors
Sink	25	Kitchen sinks
CoffeeMachine	24	Various coffee makers
ElectricKettle	14	Electric kettles
Blender	13	Countertop blenders
Oven	12	Built-in ovens
Dishwasher	12	Built-in dishwashers
StandMixer	12	KitchenAid-style mixers
RangeHood	11	Kitchen ventilation hoods
Stove	10	Range/stove units
Stovetop	8	Cooktop surfaces

8 Locomotion Assets: Apartment, KitchenRoom, 2-StoryStaircase, various ground textures

Technical Details

• Format: USD (.usd) with texture folders
• Size: ~2-6MB per asset (total 3.2GB)
• Features: Pre-configured articulation (doors, drawers, buttons)
• License: CC BY-NC 4.0 (attribution required, non-commercial)
• Attribution: Must use lightwheel_{asset_name} naming

Compatibility Assessment

Differences from prl_assets

Aspect	prl_assets	Lightwheel
Object type	Small graspable objects	Large articulated appliances
Format	MuJoCo XML	USD
Use case	Pick-and-place	Appliance interaction
Size	~100KB each	~2-6MB each
Physics	Simple collision	Articulated joints

Integration Options

1. Separate package (prl_fixtures or prl_environments)

   • Keep prl_assets focused on graspable objects
   • New package for environment fixtures and articulated objects
   • Would need USD→MuJoCo conversion pipeline

2. Direct Isaac Sim usage

   • Use assets natively in Isaac Sim workflows
   • No conversion needed
   • Different simulation stack than MuJoCo

3. Selective conversion

   • Convert simpler assets (toasters, kettles, blenders) to MuJoCo
   • Skip complex articulated items (fridges, dishwashers)
   • Manual effort per asset

Recommendation

These assets serve a different purpose than prl_assets' graspable objects. They're valuable for:

• Kitchen scene setup
• Robot-appliance interaction training (opening doors, pressing buttons)
• Realistic environment rendering

Suggested approach:

• Create a new prl_fixtures package if we want MuJoCo versions
• Or use directly in Isaac Sim without conversion
• Document as a complementary resource in prl_assets README

Source

• Repository: https://github.com/LightwheelAI/Lightwheel-simready-asset
• Download: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1S1W-vDNvsOOQU0qViEax_QS0zr0zGLfX
• Related: https://simready.com/

Tasks

• Decide on integration strategy (separate package vs Isaac Sim native)
• If converting: prototype USD→MuJoCo pipeline for one asset
• If separate package: set up prl_fixtures repo structure
• Add reference to these assets in prl_assets README