How to create a ball joint with built-in spring effect in Isaac Sim 4.5.0?

Omniverse Isaac Sim
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Hello,

I am using Isaac Sim version 4.5.0. I want to create a ball joint (spherical joint) between two rigid bodies that has a spring effect, i.e., when the joint is displaced, it automatically returns to its initial/rest position, similar to what can be achieved in MuJoCo by directly setting the joint’s stiffness and damping.

Questions:

  1. Is there a built-in way in Isaac Sim (Omniverse) to create a ball joint with spring (elastic) behavior, where the spring force is applied internally by the physics engine?
  2. Or do I have to implement the spring force manually by applying forces in every simulation step using Python scripts?
  3. In MuJoCo, I can set stiffness and damping parameters for a joint, and the simulation will automatically restore the joint to its default pose. Is there an equivalent feature in Isaac Sim for spherical joints? If so, how can I set it up?
  4. Must I use a Drive component to achieve this spring effect for the joint? Is it possible to implement a spring-like (elastic) effect for a ball joint without using Drive?
  5. If not, are there any recommended best practices to implement this behavior efficiently in Isaac Sim 4.5.0?

Any guidance or code examples would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!

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Hi @zhaowentao, I think you are trying to get to the same question as the one asked here: Isaac Sim 4.5 PhysX SphericalJoint soft‐limit springCompliance/Damping not producing expected elastic return Please see the script that I have shared, you will find a Ball Joint implementation.

Michael

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