Changes Quaternion convention from WXYZ to XYZW

[AntoineRichard]

Description

Changes the quaternion convention in IsaacLab to match that of:

• ROS
• PhysX
• Newton
• Scipy
• Low level USD

Fixes https://github.com/isaac-sim/IsaacLab-Internal/issues/744

This PR brings massive changes throughout the code base. Almost all users should expect their code to be impacted by these changes. We provide a tool that should help users navigate these changes.

./scripts/tools/find_quaternions.py provides users with an automated script to search throughout the code base some quaternions that do not differ between the current code and a given commit. This can be used to track if your code has changed the order of its hard-coded quaternions.

For instance running the following will show all the quaternions that might need to be updated inside your extension. The dry-run flag will make it so that the script does not attempt to modify the quaternions.

./scripts/tools/find_quaternions.py --path PATH_TO_YOUR_EXTENSION --all-quats --fix --context 4 --dry-run

If you want to modify the quaternions the script comes with an interactive mode where it prompts you with changes to be made, to do so remove the --dry-run flag:

./scripts/tools/find_quaternions.py --path PATH_TO_YOUR_EXTENSION --all-quats --fix --context 4

The --context flag provides more or less context before and after the line where a quaternion was found.

Here is a sample of the interactive mode:

Searching 968 Python, 11 JSON, and 6 RST files...
Comparing against: main
Found 178 files changed from main

Found 69 potential quaternions to review:

====================================================================================================

────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
📍 source/isaaclab_assets/isaaclab_assets/robots/anymal.py:173 [AMBIGUOUS]
────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
     169 | # Configuration - Sensors.
     170 | ##
     171 | 
     172 | ANYMAL_LIDAR_CFG = VELODYNE_VLP_16_RAYCASTER_CFG.replace(
>>>  173 |     offset=RayCasterCfg.OffsetCfg(pos=(-0.310, 0.000, 0.159), rot=(0.0, 0.0, 0.0, 1.0))
     174 | )
     175 | """Configuration for the Velodyne VLP-16 sensor mounted on the ANYmal robot's base."""
────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
  Change: [0.0, 0.0, 0.0, 1.0] → [0.0, 0.0, 1.0, 0.0]
  Result: offset=RayCasterCfg.OffsetCfg(pos=(-0.310, 0.000, 0.159), rot=(0.0, 0.0, 1.0, 0.0))
Apply this fix? [Y/n/a/q]: Y
  ✅ Fixed!

────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
📍 source/isaaclab_mimic/test/test_curobo_planner_franka.py:42 [AMBIGUOUS]
────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
      38 | 
      39 | # Predefined EE goals for the test
      40 | # Each entry is a tuple of: (goal specification, goal ID)
      41 | predefined_ee_goals_and_ids = [
>>>   42 |     ({"pos": [0.70, -0.25, 0.25], "quat": [0.0, 0.707, 0.0, 0.707]}, "Behind wall, left"),
      43 |     ({"pos": [0.70, 0.25, 0.25], "quat": [0.0, 0.707, 0.0, 0.707]}, "Behind wall, right"),
      44 |     ({"pos": [0.65, 0.0, 0.45], "quat": [1.0, 0.0, 0.0, 0.0]}, "Behind wall, center, high"),
      45 |     ({"pos": [0.80, -0.15, 0.35], "quat": [0.0, 0.5, 0.0, 0.866]}, "Behind wall, far left"),
      46 |     ({"pos": [0.80, 0.15, 0.35], "quat": [0.0, 0.5, 0.0, 0.866]}, "Behind wall, far right"),
────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
  Change: [0.0, 0.707, 0.0, 0.707] → [0.707, 0.0, 0.707, 0.0]
  Result: ({"pos": [0.70, -0.25, 0.25], "quat": [0.707, 0.0, 0.707, 0.0]}, "Behind wall, left"),
Apply this fix? [Y/n/a/q]: Y
  ✅ Fixed!

────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
📍 source/isaaclab_mimic/test/test_curobo_planner_franka.py:43 [AMBIGUOUS]
────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
      39 | # Predefined EE goals for the test
      40 | # Each entry is a tuple of: (goal specification, goal ID)
      41 | predefined_ee_goals_and_ids = [
      42 |     ({"pos": [0.70, -0.25, 0.25], "quat": [0.707, 0.0, 0.707, 0.0]}, "Behind wall, left"),
>>>   43 |     ({"pos": [0.70, 0.25, 0.25], "quat": [0.0, 0.707, 0.0, 0.707]}, "Behind wall, right"),
      44 |     ({"pos": [0.65, 0.0, 0.45], "quat": [1.0, 0.0, 0.0, 0.0]}, "Behind wall, center, high"),
      45 |     ({"pos": [0.80, -0.15, 0.35], "quat": [0.0, 0.5, 0.0, 0.866]}, "Behind wall, far left"),
      46 |     ({"pos": [0.80, 0.15, 0.35], "quat": [0.0, 0.5, 0.0, 0.866]}, "Behind wall, far right"),
      47 | ]
────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
  Change: [0.0, 0.707, 0.0, 0.707] → [0.707, 0.0, 0.707, 0.0]
  Result: ({"pos": [0.70, 0.25, 0.25], "quat": [0.707, 0.0, 0.707, 0.0]}, "Behind wall, right"),
Apply this fix? [Y/n/a/q]: Y
  ✅ Fixed!

Type of change

• Breaking change (existing functionality will not work without user modification)
• Documentation update

Checklist

• I have read and understood the contribution guidelines
• I have run the pre-commit checks with ./isaaclab.sh --format
• I have made corresponding changes to the documentation
• My changes generate no new warnings
• I have added tests that prove my fix is effective or that my feature works
• I have updated the changelog and the corresponding version in the extension's config/extension.toml file
• I have added my name to the CONTRIBUTORS.md or my name already exists there

[greptile-apps]

Skipped: This PR changes more files than the configured file change limit: (142 files found, 100 file limit)

[kellyguo11]

@njawale42 @peterd-NV @michaellin6 fyi - we'll likely need to update the curobo, mimic, and IK tests with these changes.

[AntoineRichard]

@ooctipus could you check the fabric stuff? I think I may have used the wrong ordering, but it still passes the tests somehow?

[AntoineRichard]

@kellyguo11 Looks like the regular test suites are passing. Do you know if we could run the whole set of tests on this PR?

[ooctipus]

I think fabric looks right!