AI2-THOR: Revolutionizing Virtual Environments
AI2-THOR is a remarkable AI-powered environment that offers a plethora of features and capabilities. It includes 120 rooms with various settings like kitchens, bedrooms, bathrooms, and living rooms, along with over 2000 unique objects. Built on Unity 3D, it enables physical simulation for objects and scenes, with objects having visual state changes such as open/close, on/off, and hot/cold. It supports multiple agent types like humanoids and drones, and allows for multiple agents in a single scene.
The environment also features 89 apartments with 600+ objects, with physical and simulated counterparts for 14 apartments. It utilizes the LoCoBot robot with a Kinect camera, and the apartments are built in a modular fashion from an asset library, making them easily reconfigurable. Both simulation and real environments are accessible to all.
When compared to other frameworks, AI2-THOR stands out with its comprehensive set of features. For example, it offers navigable 3D scene scans, a 3D asset library, physics-based interaction, object states, object specific reactions, dynamic lighting, and support for multiple agents, just like AI2-THOR. It also has a real counterpart, setting it apart from some other options.
The platform has seen several updates over time. In February 2022, AI2-THOR now supports headless rendering, making it more accessible for use on computing clusters. In April 2021, the ManipulaTHOR environment was released, facilitating visual manipulation of objects using a robotic arm. And in February 2021, AI2-THOR v2.7.0 announced several massive speedups.
Overall, AI2-THOR is a powerful tool that opens up new possibilities in the world of virtual environments and AI applications.