[maxkra15]

Description

Make portable packaged examples run with Newton and Newton GL by default. Keep their previous PhysX/Kit path available with --physics isaacsim_physx --viz kit.

• Default eight existing examples to Newton, with Newton Warp rendering for camera.
• Support heterogeneous bin-packing with Newton VBD through an example-local flat grocery view, preserving authored inertia when randomizing mass.
• Support ARL Robot 1 with Newton MJWarp through shared articulation/wrench APIs and the existing thruster/controller, retaining its PhysX multirotor path.
• Default pick-and-place to one environment; fix source-checkout program lookup with incomplete installed package data.
• Use supported actuator commands and a coarser Newton camera terrain grid to avoid heightfield contact overflow. PhysX terrain settings are unchanged.
• Update catalog entries, focused coverage, documentation, and changelog fragments.

No linked issue. No new dependencies or shared backend abstractions. PhysX-only surface-gripper, heterogeneous-task, and tactile workflows remain unchanged.

Type of change

• Bug fix
• New feature
• Breaking change: default physics/visualizer choices changed; pass --physics isaacsim_physx --viz kit to retain the previous launch.
• Documentation update

Release backport

• Backport this pull request to the active release branch after it merges into develop

Validation

Merged develop at 9eacda9dd and resolved launcher/documentation conflicts. The previous head's full CI run passed, including Newton, standalone demos (Kit and non-Kit), rendering, and contrib environments. CI is being requested again for the updated head.

• Focused CLI/standalone tests: 51 passed, 405 simulator cases skipped by the existing opt-in gate; real rollouts were run separately below.
• Newton: bin-packing 300 steps with 16 heterogeneous bins and repeated reset; ARL Robot 1 300 steps.
• Newton camera: two environments, 100 steps, RGB/depth/raycast-depth output, no heightfield overflow. The original grid reproduced the overflow; a coarser grid removed it.
• Newton sensor examples: frame-transformer, IMU, PVA, ray-caster, and multi-mesh ray-caster camera completed 20 steps with two environments, without deprecated actuator-command warnings.
• Newton marker and procedural-terrain examples completed bounded launches.
• PhysX fallback: bin-packing and ARL Robot 1 30 steps; camera 20 steps with RGB/depth output; default one-environment pick-and-place 10 steps.
• uv run --frozen isaaclab -f — passed, including the changelog gate.
• uv run --frozen --isolated --extra dev make -C docs current-docs — clean build passed without Sphinx warnings.
• uv run --frozen python tools/changelog/cli.py check develop and git diff --check — passed.

Known caveat

Imported assets still emit material-binding/propeller-inertia warnings, and existing Newton cloner/COM advisories remain. ARL's four colliderless propeller links require a separate asset/importer investigation. These warnings are not suppressed by this PR.

Checklist

• I have read and understood the contribution guidelines
• I have run the pre-commit checks with uv run isaaclab --format
• I have made corresponding changes to the documentation
• My changes generate no new warnings — see known caveat above
• I have validated the changed behavior with focused coverage and applied the test-audit criteria to test changes
• I have added a changelog fragment under source/<pkg>/changelog.d/
• My name already exists in CONTRIBUTORS.md

[maxkra15]

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[maxkra15]

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