Overview

What is REAF?

REAF, which stands for Robotics Environment Authoring Framework, is a tool designed to streamline the creation of robotics environments. It ensures that all created environments are compliant with the GDM Robotics Environment interface.

Why REAF?

The concept of an "Environment" is a fundamental abstraction in Reinforcement Learning, representing the world with which an "agent" interacts. While this abstraction is widely used, most implementations are ad-hoc, leading to several challenges that limit scalability and collaboration.

REAF was developed to address these challenges by providing a standardized structure for authoring robotics environments. It is designed to be scalable and flexible, supporting a wide variety of robots and tasks. By offering a common framework, REAF aims to reduce code complexity, improve debuggability, and make it easier for new users to get started.

Core Concepts

REAF's design is guided by a few core principles that you will see reflected throughout the framework and its documentation:

Separation of Embodiment and Task: REAF enforces a clear distinction between the embodiment (the physical robot or simulation) and the task (the goal the embodiment is trying to achieve). This separation allows for greater modularity and reusability. Embodiments, which are typically stable, can be developed and maintained independently from tasks, which are more dynamic and experimental.
Adherence to a Standard Interface: All environments created with REAF adhere to the GDM Environment interface. This ensures consistency and interoperability across different projects and teams.
Integrated Workflow: REAF provides built-in support for essential functionalities like resets and logging, which are crucial for conducting robotics research in a systematic and reproducible manner.

Getting started

You can install reaf from PyPI using pip:

pip install reaf

To learn more about the architecture and design of REAF, we recommend reading the Core concepts document. For hands-on experience, you can follow our tutorials.

Licence and Disclaimer

All software is licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (Apache 2.0); you may not use this file except in compliance with the Apache 2.0 license. You may obtain a copy of the Apache 2.0 license at: https://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0

All other materials are licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC-BY). You may obtain a copy of the CC-BY license at: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode

Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, all software and materials distributed here under the Apache 2.0 or CC-BY licenses are distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied. See the licenses for the specific language governing permissions and limitations under those licenses.

This is not an official Google product.