Simulation Not Rendering in Robotics Academy on Windows (WSL2, No GPU) – Need Guidance

[JitinSaxenaa]

Hello JdeRobot team,

My name is Jitin Saxena, and I am a B.Tech Robotics & AI student. I am deeply interested in robotics, simulation, ROS, and computer vision, and I want to prepare myself to contribute to JdeRobot for Google Summer of Code 2026.
I have already started exploring Robotics Academy and Robotics Backend because I want to understand the stack thoroughly .

Issue: Gazebo simulation & camera feed not working in Robotics Academy

I have been trying to run the Follow Line exercise on my Windows 11 laptop (WSL2 + Docker Desktop).
The UI loads, but:

The camera feed shows “No image available”

The Gazebo Sim panel appears blank / tilted / partially drawn

The application does not fully start even though the backend reports tools_ready

Here is what I have already done in detail:

What I have already tried:-

*Installed and configured Docker Desktop (WSL2 backend)
I enabled WSL2 integration and moved Ubuntu to a different drive to free space.

*Pulled required images
docker pull jderobot/robotics-database:latest
docker pull jderobot/robotics-academy:latest
docker pull jderobot/robotics-backend:latest

*Successfully launched the database
docker run --hostname my-postgres --name academy_db -d
-e POSTGRES_DB=academy_db
-e POSTGRES_USER=user-dev
-e POSTGRES_PASSWORD=robotics-academy-dev
-p 5432:5432
jderobot/robotics-database:latest

*Launched Robotics Backend (both detached and interactive modes)

The backend starts correctly:

I get gz sim is running!
I get Server Launched
I get tools_ready

ROS2 topics look valid (/cam_f1_left/image_raw, etc.)

*Launched Robotics Academy with proper container linking
docker run --rm -it
--link robotics_backend:robotics_backend
--link academy_db:academy_db
-p 7164:7164
--name robotics_academy
jderobot/robotics-academy:latest

*The UI loads but the simulation does NOT

As shown in my screenshot:

Gazebo world is not fully rendering
Camera feed shows “No image available”
WebGUI is not receiving image frames

System Limitations :-

My laptop does NOT have a dedicated GPU.
WSL2 also does not expose /dev/dri which causes this message:

WARNING: '/dev/dri' does not exist. No direct GPU access.
Falling back to CPU-only mode.

So my question is:

Could the missing GPU (and missing /dev/dri in WSL2) be the reason why Gazebo does not render?

Is Robotics Academy expected to run only with hardware acceleration, or should CPU-only mode still show the simulation normally?
I would really appreciate guidance on:
Whether CPU-only systems can run the simulation properly
Whether a special WSL2 configuration is needed to expose GPU / /dev/dri
The correct recommended workflow for Windows users without a GPU

I am highly motivated to learn and contribute to JdeRobot, especially for GSoC 2026, and resolving this issue will help me understand the architecture better.
Thank you so much for your time and support!

Best regards,
Jitin Saxena

[JitinSaxenaa]

@jmplaza please review sir.