Ark: An Open-source Python-based Framework for Robot Learning
Magnus Dierking, Christopher E. Mower, Sarthak Das, Huang Helong, Jiacheng Qiu, Cody Reading, Wei Chen, Huidong Liang, Huang Guowei, Jan Peters, Quan Xingyue, Jun Wang, Haitham Bou-Ammar
2025-06-30
Summary
This paper talks about ARK, which is an open-source framework made mainly with Python to help people teach robots by imitating behaviors and easily connect simulations with real robots.
What's the problem?
Developing and deploying robot learning is complicated because it requires combining advanced learning methods with real-world testing, which is often hard to do smoothly.
What's the solution?
ARK solves this by providing a simple and flexible Python-based framework that combines modern imitation-learning techniques and allows smooth switching between robot simulations and real robot hardware, making robot development easier.
Why it matters?
This matters because ARK makes it faster and simpler for researchers and developers to create and test robots, helping move robotics technology forward and enabling more practical robot applications.
Abstract
ARK is an open-source Python-first framework that integrates modern imitation-learning algorithms and seamless simulation-physical robot interactions to simplify robotics development and deployment.