AI-Native Textbook — Physical AI & Humanoid Robotics

A comprehensive textbook covering ROS 2, Gazebo, NVIDIA Isaac, and Vision-Language-Action systems for physical AI and humanoid robotics applications. This textbook is designed as a 13-week curriculum organized into 4 modules, providing students and educators with a structured learning path through cutting-edge robotics technologies.

Curriculum Overview

Module 1 — The Robotic Nervous System (ROS 2)

• Week 1: Introduction to Physical AI and Sensors (LIDAR, IMUs)
• Week 2: ROS 2 Fundamentals — Nodes, Topics, Services, Packages
• Week 3: Python Agent Integration with ROS Controllers + URDF Modeling

Module 2 — The Digital Twin (Gazebo & Unity)

• Week 4: Physics Simulation in Gazebo — Gravity, Collisions
• Week 5: High-Fidelity Rendering in Unity + Sensor Simulation

Module 3 — The AI-Robot Brain (NVIDIA Isaac™)

• Week 6: NVIDIA Isaac Sim — Photorealistic Simulation
• Week 7: Isaac ROS — Hardware-Accelerated VSLAM + Nav2
• Week 8: Isaac Sim for Reinforcement Learning — Advanced Tooling

Module 4 — Vision-Language-Action (VLA)

• Week 9: Voice-to-Action with OpenAI Whisper
• Week 10: Cognitive Planning — LLMs Translating Natural Language to ROS 2 Actions
• Weeks 11-13: Capstone — Autonomous Humanoid Deployment & Testing

Setup Instructions

Prerequisites

• Node.js 18+ LTS (recommended)
• npm package manager
• Git for version control

Installation

1. Clone the repository:

   git clone https://github.com/muhammadwaheedairi/hackathon_textbook_ai_robotics.git

2. Navigate to the website directory:

   cd hackathon_textbook_ai_robotics/my-website

3. Install dependencies:

   npm install

Local Development

1. Start the development server:

   npm start

2. Open your browser to http://localhost:3000 to view the textbook

Build for Production

To build the static site for production:

npm run build

The built site will be available in the build/ directory.

Deployment

This project is configured for GitHub Pages deployment. The site will automatically deploy when changes are pushed to the main branch using the GitHub Actions workflow in .github/workflows/deploy.yml.

Contributing

To contribute content to the textbook:

1. Create or edit Markdown files in the my-website/docs/ directory following the module/week structure
2. Update the sidebar configuration in my-website/sidebars.ts if adding new content
3. Test your changes locally before submitting a pull request

Technologies Used

• Docusaurus - Static site generator for documentation
• React - JavaScript library for building user interfaces
• GitHub Pages - Static site hosting
• GitHub Actions - Continuous deployment

License

This textbook content is licensed under CC BY 4.0.

Support

For questions or support, please open an issue in the GitHub repository.