Implementation:Google deepmind Dm control Locomotion Arenas

Metadata
Knowledge Sources	dm_control
Domains	Reinforcement Learning, Robotics, Environment Design
Last Updated	2026-02-15 00:00 GMT

Overview

Concrete tool for building terrain environments in the dm_control locomotion library, providing flat floors, gap corridors, wall corridors, bowl-shaped heightfields, and procedurally generated mazes with target and spawn positions.

Description

The locomotion arenas module provides several arena classes for constructing the physical terrain in which walkers operate. Each arena generates a MuJoCo XML model containing ground geometry, optional obstacles, lighting, skybox textures, and top-down cameras. Arenas support per-episode regeneration: dimensions, obstacle placements, and maze layouts can be resampled from distributions each time the environment resets.

The available arenas include:

• Floor: A simple flat plane with configurable size, reflectance, and optional aesthetic textures. Suitable for open-area tasks such as target reaching.
• GapsCorridor: A corridor with alternating platforms and gaps. Platform and gap lengths can be fixed values or sampled from distributions.
• WallsCorridor: A corridor with protruding wall obstacles that alternate sides. Wall gap, width, height, and color are configurable.
• Bowl: A sinusoidal bowl-shaped heightfield with random smooth bumps, designed for escape tasks where the agent must climb out.
• RandomMazeWithTargets: A procedurally generated 2D maze using the LabMaze library, with rooms, corridors, spawn points, and target positions.

Usage

Use these arenas to define the physical space for locomotion experiments. Choose Floor for simple tasks, corridor arenas for forward locomotion with obstacles, Bowl for escape tasks, and maze arenas for navigation and foraging tasks.

Code Reference

Source Location

Class	File	Lines
Floor	Template:Code	L26-104
GapsCorridor	Template:Code	L178-337
WallsCorridor	Template:Code	L340-443
Bowl	Template:Code	L34-135
RandomMazeWithTargets	Template:Code	L394-460

Signature

class Floor(composer.Arena):
    def _build(self, size=(8, 8), reflectance=.2, aesthetic='default',
               name='floor', top_camera_y_padding_factor=1.1,
               top_camera_distance=100):
        ...

class GapsCorridor(EmptyCorridor):
    def _build(self, platform_length=1., gap_length=2.5,
               corridor_width=4, corridor_length=40,
               ground_rgba=(0.5, 0.5, 0.5, 1),
               visible_side_planes=False, aesthetic='default',
               name='gaps_corridor'):
        ...

class WallsCorridor(EmptyCorridor):
    def _build(self, wall_gap=2.5, wall_width=2.5, wall_height=2.0,
               swap_wall_side=True, wall_rgba=(1, 1, 1, 1),
               corridor_width=4, corridor_length=40,
               visible_side_planes=False,
               include_initial_padding=True,
               name='walls_corridor'):
        ...

class Bowl(composer.Arena):
    def _build(self, size=(10, 10), aesthetic='default', name='bowl'):
        ...

class RandomMazeWithTargets(MazeWithTargets):
    def _build(self, x_cells, y_cells, xy_scale=2.0, z_height=2.0,
               max_rooms=4, room_min_size=3, room_max_size=5,
               spawns_per_room=1, targets_per_room=1,
               max_variations=26, simplify=True,
               skybox_texture=None, wall_textures=None,
               floor_textures=None, aesthetic='default',
               name='random_maze'):
        ...

Import

from dm_control.locomotion.arenas import floors
from dm_control.locomotion.arenas import corridors
from dm_control.locomotion.arenas import bowl
from dm_control.locomotion.arenas import mazes

I/O Contract

Inputs

Parameter	Type	Description
size	tuple of 2 floats	(Floor, Bowl) Dimensions of the ground plane in meters.
corridor_width	float or Variation	(Corridors) Width of the corridor in meters.
corridor_length	float or Variation	(Corridors) Length of the corridor in meters.
platform_length	float or Variation	(GapsCorridor) Length of each platform segment.
gap_length	float or Variation	(GapsCorridor) Length of each gap between platforms.
wall_gap	float or Variation	(WallsCorridor) Distance between consecutive walls.
wall_width	float or Variation	(WallsCorridor) How far each wall extends into the corridor.
wall_height	float or Variation	(WallsCorridor) Height of the obstructing walls.
x_cells, y_cells	int (odd)	(RandomMazeWithTargets) Number of cells in each direction for maze generation.
xy_scale	float	(RandomMazeWithTargets) Size of each maze cell in meters.
aesthetic	str	Visual style identifier (Template:Code or a named style) affecting textures and skybox.

Outputs (Properties)

Property	Type	Description
mjcf_model	mjcf.RootElement	The root MJCF element of the arena.
ground_geoms	tuple	Ground geometry elements for contact detection.
corridor_length	float	(Corridors) Current realized corridor length after regeneration.
corridor_width	float	(Corridors) Current realized corridor width after regeneration.
size	tuple	(Floor) The size of the floor arena.
target_positions	tuple of arrays	(MazeWithTargets) Cartesian positions of targets in the current maze.
spawn_positions	tuple of arrays	(MazeWithTargets) Cartesian positions of spawn points in the current maze.

Usage Examples

Creating a flat floor arena:

from dm_control.locomotion.arenas import floors

arena = floors.Floor(size=(10, 10), reflectance=0.3)
print(arena.size)  # (10, 10)

Creating a gaps corridor with randomized dimensions:

from dm_control.composer.variation import distributions
from dm_control.locomotion.arenas import corridors

arena = corridors.GapsCorridor(
    platform_length=distributions.Uniform(0.3, 2.5),
    gap_length=distributions.Uniform(0.5, 1.25),
    corridor_width=10,
    corridor_length=100)

Creating a walls corridor:

from dm_control.composer.variation import distributions
from dm_control.locomotion.arenas import corridors

arena = corridors.WallsCorridor(
    wall_gap=4.0,
    wall_width=distributions.Uniform(1, 7),
    wall_height=3.0,
    corridor_width=10,
    corridor_length=100,
    include_initial_padding=False)

Creating a bowl arena for escape tasks:

from dm_control.locomotion.arenas import bowl

arena = bowl.Bowl(size=(20, 20))

Creating a random maze with targets and textures:

from dm_control.locomotion.arenas import mazes
from dm_control.locomotion.arenas import labmaze_textures

skybox = labmaze_textures.SkyBox(style='sky_03')
walls = labmaze_textures.WallTextures(style='style_01')
floor_tex = labmaze_textures.FloorTextures(style='style_01')

arena = mazes.RandomMazeWithTargets(
    x_cells=11, y_cells=11, xy_scale=3,
    max_rooms=4, room_min_size=4, room_max_size=5,
    spawns_per_room=1, targets_per_room=3,
    skybox_texture=skybox,
    wall_textures=walls,
    floor_textures=floor_tex)

Related Pages

• Principle:Google_deepmind_Dm_control_Terrain_Arena_Building