Adds option for terrain border to above or below the ground

source/isaaclab/config/extension.toml

@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 [package]
 
 # Note: Semantic Versioning is used: https://semver.org/
-version = "0.36.23"
+version = "0.36.24"
 
 # Description
 title = "Isaac Lab framework for Robot Learning"

source/isaaclab/docs/CHANGELOG.rst

@@ -1,6 +1,16 @@
 Changelog
 ---------
 
+0.36.24 (2025-04-28)
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+
+Added
+^^^^^
+
+* Adds option to add terrain border as "wall" above the ground or as terrain extension below the ground in
+  :class:`~isaaclab.terrains.terrain_generator.TerrainGeneratorCfg`.
+
+
 0.36.23 (2025-04-24)
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 

source/isaaclab/isaaclab/terrains/terrain_generator.py

@@ -268,8 +268,10 @@ def _add_terrain_border(self):
         border_center = (
             self.cfg.num_rows * self.cfg.size[0] / 2,
             self.cfg.num_cols * self.cfg.size[1] / 2,
-            -self.cfg.border_height / 2,
+            self.cfg.border_height / 2,
         )
+        if self.cfg.border_below_ground:
+            border_center[2] *= -1
         # border mesh
         border_meshes = make_border(border_size, inner_size, height=self.cfg.border_height, position=border_center)
         border = trimesh.util.concatenate(border_meshes)

source/isaaclab/isaaclab/terrains/terrain_generator_cfg.py

@@ -138,6 +138,15 @@ class TerrainGeneratorCfg:
     border_height: float = 1.0
     """The height of the border around the terrain (in m). Defaults to 1.0."""
 
+    border_below_ground: bool = True
+    """Whether to place the border below the ground. Defaults to True.
+
+    If True, the highest point of the border is at the height 0.0. This extends the terrain and is typically used in
+    locomotion tasks.
+    If False, the lowest point of the border is at the height 0.0. This is typically used in navigation tasks and acts
+    as a wall to prevent the robot from falling off the terrain.
+    """
+
     num_rows: int = 1
     """Number of rows of sub-terrains to generate. Defaults to 1."""