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arXiv · 2312.12345

On the Effectiveness of Retrieval, Alignment, and Replay in Manipulation

Norman Di Palo·Edward Johns
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Abstract

Imitation learning with visual observations is notoriously inefficient when addressed with end-to-end behavioural cloning methods. In this paper, we explore an alternative paradigm which decomposes reasoning into three phases. First, a retrieval phase, which informs the robot what it can do with an object. Second, an alignment phase, which informs the robot where to interact with the object. And third, a replay phase, which informs the robot how to interact with the object. Through a series of real-world experiments on everyday tasks, such as grasping, pouring, and inserting objects, we show that this decomposition brings unprecedented learning efficiency, and effective inter- and intra-class generalisation. Videos are available at https://www.robot-learning.uk/retrieval-alignment-replay.

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Norman Di Palo, Edward Johns. 2023-12-19. On the Effectiveness of Retrieval, Alignment, and Replay in Manipulation. https://arxiv.org/abs/2312.12345

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