pinkdiamond1 / webots-cloud

webots.cloud

This repository holds the contents of https://webots.cloud (master branch) and https://beta.webots.cloud (beta branch)

webots.cloud is implemented as a Single Page Application (SPA), including the following URL model:

• https://webots.cloud => home page
• https://webots.cloud/scene => scenes listing
• https://webots.cloud/animation => animations listing
• https://webots.cloud/proto => protos listing
• https://webots.cloud/demo => demos listing
• https://webots.cloud/benchmark => benchmarks listing
• https://webots.cloud/competition => competitions listing
• https://webots.cloud/settings => user settings (private information)
• https://webots.cloud/UL6ZtOI => user page (public information, the URI starts with /U)

In addition, specific URLs correspond to different Webots materials:

type	data host	sample URL
scene	webots.cloud	https://webots.cloud/S0_2Q8O (the URI starts with /S)
animation	webots.cloud	https://webots.cloud/AQnPNle (the URI starts with /A)
proto	github.com	https://webots.cloud/P9COc_3 (the URI starts with /P)
demo	github.com	https://webots.cloud/SJJl-rl (the URI starts with /D)
benchmark	github.com	https://webots.cloud/BnmJEHj (the URI starts with /B)
competition	github.com	https://webots.cloud/CoLEx-A (the URI starts with /C)

Scenes and animantions are hosted directly on webots.cloud. Protos, demos, benchmarks and competitions are hosted on GitHub repositories.

Scene

A scene is a simple 3D model corresponding to a Webots world file. Scenes are static, that is nothing is moving. However, the users can change the viewpoint and zoom in to observe details in a scene.

Animation

An animation is an animated model. It is usually the recording of a simulation that can be played back by the users.

Proto

A proto is a Webots proto file including possibly textures files and other resources. It usually represents an object such as a robot, a sensor, an actuator or any passive object, like a chair or a table. Protos published on webots.cloud can be easily browsed and re-used in any Webots world file.

Demo

A demo is a complete Webots simulation project including a world file and one or several robot controllers. It may demonstrate some research achievement: a robot solving a problem or demonstrating some interesting capabilities. It may include some robot window displaying sensor data or other data representing the internal state of the robot. The robot window may also include the possibility for the user to interact with the simulation while it is running. For example there could be some buttons to ask the robot to perform some speficic actions, or a slider to apply a force to the robot, or a checkbox to open or close a door, etc. To setup a Webots repository that contains a demo, you should create it from the https://github.com/cyberbotics/webots-demo-template template repository. Then, you should commit your specific files: worlds, controllers, protos, robot windows, etc. Finally, you should add a new demo from the https://webots.cloud/demo page and indicate the GitHub URL of your Webots world file, including the tag (or branch) name, e.g., https://github.com/cyberbotics/webots/blob/R2021b/projects/languages/python/worlds/example.wbt.

Benchmark

A benchmark is a simulation scenario which proposes a challenge involving a single participant. A robot has to address a problem and its behavior is evaluated against a performance metrics. This performance metrics is a scalar value which allows to compare the performance of different participant against the same challenge. Several examples of benchmarks are provided on the robotbenchmark website.

Competition

A competition is a simulation scenario involving several participants (generally two participants). It could be a soccer match between two teams of robots like RoboCup, or a survival game like Rat's Life, or a wrestling competition like Roboka, etc. The performance metrics is a ranking between the competitors. It may be implemented as a round robin tournanent, or with a series of quater finals, semi finals and finals, or using a bubble sort ranking algorithm, or with any other ranking system (ELO, ATP, etc.).

Technical Details

Setup

To setup a Webots repository holding a competition scenario, you should create it from the https://github.com/cyberbotics/webots-competition-template repository.

Competitor

To setup a Webots repository aimed at participating in a competition, you should create it from the competition template repository, that is provided on the competion repository. It may be a public or a private repository. You should choose to create a private repository if you don't want that other competitors see your source code.

Database

webots.cloud holds a database of GitHub repositories containing a Webots simulation:

id	type	url	parent	title	stars	language
1	competition	https://github.com/cyberbotics/ratslife	0	Rat's Life contest	943	C
2	competitor	https://github.com/me/my_entry	1	My Super Rat	3	Python
3	demo	https://github.com/me/my_demo	0	My Webots demo	12	C++

webots.yaml

webots.cloud parses the webots.yaml file at the root level of a repository to determine the required host, the type of Webots repository, dependencies, etc. allowing to run the simulation in the cloud.

Uses

The version information specified in the webots.yaml file indicates which version of Webots is required to run the simulation. The format is inherited from the GitHub action format: uses: docker://{host}/{image}:{tag}.

For example:

uses: docker://cyberbotics/webots:R2020b-rev1-ubuntu20.04

Type

Currently, we support 4 different types of repositories:

Demo

This is a simple simulation that can be run interactively or viewed as an animation. The webots.yaml file should contain references to the animations and simulations, for example:

type: demo
animation:
  worlds:
    - file: worlds/my_demo.wbt
      duration: 5
    - file: worlds/my_other_demo.wbt
      duration: 10
simulation:
  worlds:
    - file: worlds/my_demo.wbt
      duration: 120

The files specified in the animation section are used by the CI to generate the corresponding animation on each push. The files specified in the simulation section are used by webots.cloud to list the various simulations available for interactive run sessions.

Benchmark

This type of repository should contain the scenario of a competition, including a supervisor process performing the evalution of the controller(s).

type: competition
world: worlds/my_benchmark.wbt

Competition

This type of repository should contain the scenario of a competition, including a supervisor process performing the evalution of the controller(s).

type: competition
world: worlds/my_competition.wbt

Competitor

This type of repository should contain an entry to a competition or benchmark scenario. It should typically contain only the source code of one robot controller. Eventually, it may contain also more controllers, PROTO files and other files, specific to a competition/benchmark scenario.

type: competitor
competition: https://github.com/username/competition

type: competitor
benchmark: https://github.com/username/benchmark

Init

Some dependencies can be specified in the init section of the webots.yaml file:

init: |
  apt install -y \
    python3-numpy \
    python3-opencv

Specifying dependencies may not be allowed for competitor repositories (depending on the corresponding competition/benchmark repository). In such a case, the init section will be simply ignored.

In general, it is better to include the dependencies inside the docker image rather than in this section to speed-up the start-up of the simulation.

Behind the Scene

The template competitor repository should contain a GitHub action that performs the following:

1. Check that the competitor has all the necessary files and information in the repository.
2. Register a deploy key with the public key of the competition so that the competition can clone the private repository of the competitor.
3. Register the competitor so that it is known by the competition.

Setup of a Simulation Server Infrastructure

Follow the instructions here.