Guide to Install OpenAI’s MuJoCo on Ubuntu (Linux)

Follow these simple steps to install OpenAI’s MuJoCo gym environments on Ubuntu (linux):

Step 1. Download MuJoCo

1. Download the MuJoCo version 2.1 binaries for Linux or OSX.
2. Extract the downloaded mujoco210 directory into ~/.mujoco/mujoco210.

   [email protected]:~$ mkdir ~/.mujoco
   [email protected]:~$ cd PATH_TO_EXTRACTED_FOLDER
   [email protected]:~$ mv mujoco210 ~/.mujoco/mujoco210
   

Step 2. Install using pip (python3)

[email protected]:~$ pip3 install -U 'mujoco-py<2.2,>=2.1

Step 3. Export MuJoCo path variable

Add mujoco210 path to your bashrc (or zshrc) file by appeding the following line to your bashrc/zshrc file:

[email protected]:~$ gedit ~/.bashrc

Copy the following line at the end of the file

export LD_LIBRARY_PATH=$LD_LIBRARY_PATH:/home/nitishgupta/.mujoco/mujoco210/bin

Step 4. Verify Installation

Finally, verify the installation by executing the following script -

import mujoco_py
# running build_ext
import os
mj_path = mujoco_py.utils.discover_mujoco()
xml_path = os.path.join(mj_path, 'model', 'humanoid.xml')
model = mujoco_py.load_model_from_path(xml_path)
sim = mujoco_py.MjSim(model)
print(sim.data.qpos)
# [0.  0.  1.4 1.  0.  0.  0.  0.  0.  0.  0.  0.  0.  0.  0.  0.  0.  0.
#  0.  0.  0.  0.  0.  0.  0.  0.  0.  0. ]
sim.step()
print(sim.data.qpos)
# [-1.12164337e-05  7.29847036e-22  1.39975300e+00  9.99999999e-01
#   1.80085466e-21  4.45933954e-05 -2.70143345e-20  1.30126513e-19
#  -4.63561234e-05 -1.88020744e-20 -2.24492958e-06  4.79357124e-05
#  -6.38208396e-04 -1.61130312e-03 -1.37554006e-03  5.54173825e-05
#  -2.24492958e-06  4.79357124e-05 -6.38208396e-04 -1.61130312e-03
#  -1.37554006e-03 -5.54173825e-05 -5.73572648e-05  7.63833991e-05
#  -2.12765194e-05  5.73572648e-05 -7.63833991e-05 -2.12765194e-05]

Troubleshooting commonly encountered errors:

1. fatal error: GL/osmesa.h: No such file or directory

install the following library and try importing mujoco again:

[email protected]:~$ sudo apt-get install libosmesa6-dev

1. FileNotFoundError: [Errno 2] No such file or directory: 'patchelf'

install the following library and try importing mujoco again:

[email protected]:~$ sudo apt-get install patchelf

That’s it! You should now have MuJoCo installed successfully! Let me know if you face any other difficulties in the comment section below.