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MuJoCo Robotics Lab

A 9-lab journey from planar arms to VLA-controlled humanoid manipulation — building every layer of a robotics stack from first principles in MuJoCo.

MuJoCoPinocchioRoboticsUR5eUnitree G1VLAControl TheoryPython
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Blog Series13 parts

MuJoCo Robotics Lab

A 9-lab hands-on series building a complete robotics control pipeline from 2-link planar arms to VLA-controlled humanoid manipulation.

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Specifications
  • —9 labs progressing from 2-link planar arms to VLA-controlled humanoid manipulation
  • —Dual-engine architecture: Pinocchio (analytical brain) + MuJoCo (physics simulator)
  • —Sub-millimeter tracking accuracy with computed torque and impedance control
  • —Full stack: kinematics → dynamics → planning → grasping → locomotion → whole-body → VLA

Overview

A hands-on robotics lab series that builds a complete robotics stack from first principles. Starting with a simple 2-link planar arm and progressing through industrial manipulators, force control, motion planning, grasping, dual-arm coordination, humanoid locomotion, and whole-body loco-manipulation — culminating in Vision-Language-Action (VLA) integration on a Unitree G1 humanoid.

Every lab uses the same dual-engine architecture: Pinocchio handles all analytical computation (FK, Jacobian, dynamics, IK, collision checking) while MuJoCo runs the physics simulation. Nothing is duplicated between the two — they cross-validate each other.

YouTube Series

Lab Progression

Lab Topic Platform Key Achievement
1 Kinematics & Control 2-Link Arm 0.008 mm RMS tracking with computed torque
2 Industrial Arm UR5e 0.088 mm RMS with feedforward gravity comp
3 Dynamics & Force Control UR5e 99.96% force tracking accuracy
4 Motion Planning UR5e RRT* + TOPP-RA, 2.659s optimal trajectory
5 Grasping & Manipulation UR5e + Gripper Full pick-and-place state machine
6 Dual-Arm Coordination 2× UR5e Cooperative box carrying
7 Locomotion Unitree G1 LIPM + ZMP walking from scratch
8 Whole-Body Control Unitree G1 Walking + manipulation via task-priority QP
9 VLA Integration Unitree G1 Language → vision → action, end-to-end

NotebookLM Notebooks

Interactive AI-generated notebooks with deep dives into each lab's theory and implementation:

Lab Notebook
Lab 1 — Kinematics & Control Open in NotebookLM
Lab 2 — UR5e Industrial Arm Open in NotebookLM
Lab 3 — Dynamics & Force Control Open in NotebookLM
Lab 4 — Motion Planning Open in NotebookLM
Lab 5 — Grasping & Manipulation Open in NotebookLM
Lab 6 — Dual-Arm Coordination Open in NotebookLM
Lab 7 — Locomotion Open in NotebookLM
Lab 8 — Whole-Body Control Open in NotebookLM
Lab 9 — VLA Integration Open in NotebookLM
Project: mujoco-robotics-lab
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