Configure keyboard/Mouse control

IR-SIM support reading the keyboard and mouse input to control the robot manually.

Keyboard Control Configuration Parameters

In the keyboard control mode, the behavior of the robot is controlled by the user and the settings in the YAML file will be ignored. Please make sure the dependencies are installed before running the simulation with keyboard. The dependencies can be installed using the following command:

pip install ir-sim[keyboard]

To start with the keyboard control, you can simply to specify the control_mode parameter in the world section as keyboard. The example of the keyboard control is shown below:

Python Script

import irsim

env = irsim.make()

for i in range(1000):

    env.step()
    env.render(0.05)

    if env.done():
        break

env.end()

YAML Configuration

world:
  height: 50  
  width: 50   
  control_mode: 'keyboard'  
  obstacle_map: 'cave.png'
  mdownsample: 2

robot:
  - kinematics: {name: 'acker'} 
    shape: {name: 'rectangle', length: 4.6, width: 1.6, wheelbase: 3}
    state: [5, 5, 0, 0]
    goal: [40, 40, 0]
    vel_max: [4, 1]
    plot:
      show_trail: True
      traj_color: 'g'
      show_trajectory: True
      show_goal: False

    sensors: 
      - type: 'lidar2d'
        range_min: 0
        range_max: 20
        angle_range: 3.14
        number: 100
        alpha: 0.4

Demonstration

Keyboard Control Key Mapping

Key	Function
w	Forward
s	Back Forward
a	Turn Left
d	Turn Right
q	Decrease Linear Velocity
e	Increase Linear Velocity
z	Decrease Angular Velocity
c	Increase Angular Velocity
alt+num	Change Current Control Robot ID
r	Reset the Environment
space	Toggle Pause/Resume Environment

Environment Status Control

The space key provides toggle functionality for controlling the simulation state:

• First press: Pauses the environment (status changes to “Pause”)

• Second press: Resumes the environment (status changes to “Running”)

• Subsequent presses: Continue toggling between pause and resume states

You can access the current environment status through the env.status attribute:

import irsim

env = irsim.make()

for i in range(1000):
    env.step()
    env.render(0.05)
    
    # Check current status
    print(f"Environment status: {env.status}")
    
    if env.done():
        break

env.end()

Mouse Control

IR-SIM supports the mouse control to zoom in and out the environment and track the mouse position. The mouse control is enabled by default. For example, you can use mouse left click to set the goal of the robot.

Python Script

import irsim

env = irsim.make()

for i in range(10000):
    env.step()
    env.render(0.05, show_goal=False)
    
    if env.mouse_left_pos is not None:
        env.robot.set_goal(env.mouse_left_pos)

    if env.done():
        break

env.end()

YAML Configuration

world:
  height: 50 
  width: 50  
  step_time: 0.1 
  sample_time: 0.1 
  offset: [0, 0] 
  collision_mode: 'stop' 
  control_mode: 'auto' 
  plot:
    saved_figure:
      bbox_inches: null

robot:
  - kinematics: {name: 'diff'} 
    shape: {name: 'circle', radius: 1}
    state: [5, 5, 0]
    vel_max: [4, 1]
    behavior: {name: 'dash'} 
    plot:
      show_trajectory: True
      traj_color: 'g'
      show_goals: True

    sensors: 
      - type: 'lidar2d'
        range_min: 0
        range_max: 20
        angle_range: 3.14
        number: 100
        noise: False
        std: 1   
        angle_std: 0.2
        offset: [0, 0, 0]
        alpha: 0.4


obstacle:
  - number: 10
    distribution: {name: 'manual'}
    shape:
      - {name: 'polygon', random_shape: true, center_range: [5, 10, 40, 30], avg_radius_range: [0.5, 2]} 

Demonstration

Mouse Control Key Mapping

Mouse Action	Function
Mouse Movement	Track mouse position and update display coordinates
Middle Click	Reset zoom to default view
Scroll Up	Zoom in (centered on mouse position)
Scroll Down	Zoom out (centered on mouse position)

Mouse Position Attributes

Attribute	Type	Description
mouse_left_pos	tuple	Position of left click (x, y)
mouse_right_pos	tuple	Position of right click (x, y)
mouse_pos	tuple	Current mouse position (x, y)