Why Avala for Physical AI
Traditional annotation platforms are built for 2D images. Physical AI teams need to work with 3D scenes, point clouds, multi-sensor recordings, and spatial reconstructions. Avala handles all of these natively.Gaussian Splat Viewer
Load 3D Gaussian Splat scene reconstructions into a WebGPU-rendered viewer with scene hierarchy, properties inspector, and real-time statistics. Navigate and annotate directly in the reconstructed 3D environment.
Point Cloud Visualization
GPU-accelerated point cloud rendering with 6 visualization modes. Inspect spatial structure, density, and sensor coverage with Neutral, Intensity, Rainbow, Label, Panoptic, and Image Projection views.
Multi-Sensor MCAP Playback
Play back recorded sensor data from embodied AI systems — cameras, depth sensors, LiDAR, IMU — in a synchronized multi-panel viewer.
3D Annotation Tools
Annotate 3D cuboids, classification labels, and object attributes directly on point clouds and Gaussian Splat scenes without switching tools.
Data Types
Use Cases
Scene Understanding for Embodied AI
Embodied AI agents need to understand the 3D structure of their environment: where objects are, what surfaces are traversable, and how the space is organized. Avala’s point cloud and Gaussian Splat viewers let you visualize captured environments, then annotate objects, regions, and spatial relationships that train scene understanding models. Workflow: Capture environment with LiDAR or depth cameras -> upload point cloud or Gaussian Splat reconstruction -> visualize and inspect in 3D viewer -> annotate objects with 3D cuboids and classification labels -> export for model training.3D Object Recognition
Train models to recognize objects in 3D space using annotated point clouds and scene reconstructions. The 3D cuboid tool lets annotators place precise bounding volumes around objects with full position, dimension, and heading control. Classification attributes add category, material, and state metadata to each object.Sim-to-Real Transfer
Teams building simulation environments need labeled real-world data to validate and calibrate their simulations. Avala handles the real-world side of the pipeline:1
Capture real-world data
Record multi-sensor data from the target environment using your robot or sensor rig. Use MCAP format for multi-sensor recordings or PCD/PLY for standalone point clouds.
2
Reconstruct and visualize
Upload Gaussian Splat reconstructions or raw point clouds. Explore the data in Avala’s 3D viewers to understand scene structure.
3
Annotate ground truth
Label objects, regions, and spatial relationships that your simulation needs to replicate accurately.
4
Export for simulation alignment
Export annotations with precise 3D coordinates. Use these as ground truth to validate and tune your simulation parameters.
Digital Twin Data Annotation
Digital twin applications need annotated data that maps the physical world to its virtual representation. Avala’s Gaussian Splat viewer is particularly useful here — it renders photorealistic 3D scene reconstructions that annotators can navigate and label as if they were in the real environment. The viewer provides:- Scene hierarchy panel — Browse and select objects in the scene tree
- Properties inspector — View and edit object attributes
- Real-time statistics — Monitor rendering performance
- Undo/redo — Full edit history for annotation corrections
Navigation and Path Planning
For robots and autonomous systems that need to navigate physical spaces, annotate traversable regions, obstacles, and waypoints in point cloud data. Use polylines to define paths and boundaries, and 3D cuboids to mark obstacles with size and orientation.Avala Features Used
Example Pipeline
Getting Started
1
Choose your data format
Use Gaussian Splat format for scene reconstructions, PCD/PLY for raw point clouds, or MCAP for multi-sensor recordings from embodied systems.
2
Upload and visualize
Create a dataset with the appropriate data type and upload your files. Open them in the 3D viewer to explore the spatial data.
3
Define your annotation schema
Set up object classes and attributes that match your model’s requirements — object categories, materials, states, spatial relationships.
4
Annotate in 3D
Your team places 3D cuboids and classification labels directly in the point cloud or Gaussian Splat scene.
5
Export and integrate
Export annotations with 3D coordinates via the API or SDK. Integrate into your training pipeline, simulation, or digital twin system.
Next Steps
Visualization Overview
Full overview of Avala’s visualization capabilities, including Gaussian Splat and point cloud viewers.
3D Cuboid Tool
How to annotate objects in 3D with precise position, dimension, and heading control.
Data Types
Supported formats and upload requirements for Splat, Point Cloud, MCAP, and other data types.
Python SDK
Programmatic access for managing datasets, creating projects, and exporting annotations.