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Jiong Lin

Publications and source records attributed to Jiong Lin.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

Continuum Robot Modeling with Action Conditioned Flow Matching

Predicting the shape of tendon driven continuum robots (TDCRs) at steady state from actuation remains challenging due to continuous deformation, complex tendon routing, compliance, friction, and fabrication variability. In this paper, we address this problem as kinematic self modeling conditioned on action. We present a lightweight 3D printed TDCR hardware platform and an RGB-D data collection pipeline with multiple cameras, and we learn a point cloud flow matching model that maps motor actuation states to the robot's settled 3D geometry. The model is trained from randomly sampled quasi static configurations and evaluated on test motor commands within the same TDCR design family and actuation range. We compare against prior 3D deformable object and robot self modeling approaches in both MuJoCo simulation and real hardware experiments. Experiments on simulated 2-, 3-, and 5-module TDCRs and real 2- and 3-module robots show improved shape prediction accuracy under CD and EMD metrics. We further show in simulation that the same conditional formulation generalizes to tip payload as a conditioning input, enabling payload conditioned steady-state shape prediction. These results demonstrate a data driven self modeling framework for quasi static TDCR geometry prediction.

cs.RO

From Experience to Skill: Multi-Agent Generative Engine Optimization via Reusable Strategy Learning

Generative engines (GEs) are reshaping information access by replacing ranked links with citation-grounded answers, yet current Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) methods optimize each instance in isolation, unable to accumulate or transfer effective strategies across tasks and engines. We reframe GEO as a strategy learning problem and propose MAGEO, a multi-agent framework in which coordinated planning, editing, and fidelity-aware evaluation serve as the execution layer, while validated editing patterns are progressively distilled into reusable, engine-specific optimization skills. To enable controlled assessment, we introduce a Twin Branch Evaluation Protocol for causal attribution of content edits and DSV-CF, a dual-axis metric that unifies semantic visibility with attribution accuracy. We further release MSME-GEO-Bench, a multi-scenario, multi-engine benchmark grounded in real-world queries. Experiments on three mainstream engines show that MAGEO substantially outperforms heuristic baselines in both visibility and citation fidelity, with ablations confirming that engine-specific preference modeling and strategy reuse are central to these gains, suggesting a scalable learning-driven paradigm for trustworthy GEO. Code is available at https://github.com/Wu-beining/MAGEO

cs.AI

Beyond Cropping and Rotation: Automated Evolution of Powerful Task-Specific Augmentations with Generative Models

Data augmentation has long been a cornerstone for reducing overfitting in vision models, with methods like AutoAugment automating the design of task-specific augmentations. Recent advances in generative models, such as conditional diffusion and few-shot NeRFs, offer a new paradigm for data augmentation by synthesizing data with significantly greater diversity and realism. However, unlike traditional augmentations like cropping or rotation, these methods introduce substantial changes that enhance robustness but also risk degrading performance if the augmentations are poorly matched to the task. In this work, we present EvoAug, an automated augmentation learning pipeline, which leverages these generative models alongside an efficient evolutionary algorithm to learn optimal task-specific augmentations. Our pipeline introduces a novel approach to image augmentation that learns stochastic augmentation trees that hierarchically compose augmentations, enabling more structured and adaptive transformations. We demonstrate strong performance across fine-grained classification and few-shot learning tasks. Notably, our pipeline discovers augmentations that align with domain knowledge, even in low-data settings. These results highlight the potential of learned generative augmentations, unlocking new possibilities for robust model training.

cs.CV

ArticFlow: Generative Simulation of Articulated Mechanisms

Recent advances in generative models have produced strong results for static 3D shapes, whereas articulated 3D generation remains challenging due to action-dependent deformations and limited datasets. We introduce ArticFlow, a two-stage flow matching framework that learns a controllable velocity field from noise to target point sets under explicit action control. ArticFlow couples (i) a latent flow that transports noise to a shape-prior code and (ii) a point flow that transports points conditioned on the action and the shape prior, enabling a single model to represent diverse articulated categories and generalize across actions. On MuJoCo Menagerie, ArticFlow functions both as a generative model and as a neural simulator: it predicts action-conditioned kinematics from a compact prior and synthesizes novel morphologies via latent interpolation. Compared with object-specific simulators and an action-conditioned variant of static point-cloud generators, ArticFlow achieves higher kinematic accuracy and better shape quality. Results show that action-conditioned flow matching is a practical route to controllable and high-quality articulated mechanism generation.

cs.CV

Creative synthesis of kinematic mechanisms

In this paper, we formulate the problem of kinematic synthesis for planar linkages as a cross-domain image generation task. We develop a planar linkages dataset using RGB image representations, covering a range of mechanisms: from simple types such as crank-rocker and crank-slider to more complex eight-bar linkages like Jansen's mechanism. A shared-latent variational autoencoder (VAE) is employed to explore the potential of image generative models for synthesizing unseen motion curves and simulating novel kinematics. By encoding the drawing speed of trajectory points as color gradients, the same architecture also supports kinematic synthesis conditioned on both trajectory shape and velocity profiles. We validate our method on three datasets of increasing complexity: a standard four-bar linkage set, a mixed set of four-bar and crank-slider mechanisms, and a complex set including multi-loop mechanisms. Preliminary results demonstrate the effectiveness of image-based representations for generative mechanical design, showing that mechanisms with revolute and prismatic joints, and potentially cams and gears, can be represented and synthesized within a unified image generation framework.

cs.GR

AutoURDF: Unsupervised Robot Modeling from Point Cloud Frames Using Cluster Registration

Robot description models are essential for simulation and control, yet their creation often requires significant manual effort. To streamline this modeling process, we introduce AutoURDF, an unsupervised approach for constructing description files for unseen robots from point cloud frames. Our method leverages a cluster-based point cloud registration model that tracks the 6-DoF transformations of point clusters. Through analyzing cluster movements, we hierarchically address the following challenges: (1) moving part segmentation, (2) body topology inference, and (3) joint parameter estimation. The complete pipeline produces robot description files that are fully compatible with existing simulators. We validate our method across a variety of robots, using both synthetic and real-world scan data. Results indicate that our approach outperforms previous methods in registration and body topology estimation accuracy, offering a scalable solution for automated robot modeling.

cs.RO

Weaving the (AdS) spaces with partial entanglement entropy threads

In the context of the AdS/CFT correspondence, we propose a general scheme for reconstructing bulk geometric quantities in a static pure AdS background using the partial entanglement entropy (PEE), a measure of the entanglement structure on the boundary CFT. The PEE between any two points $\mathcal{I}(\vec{x}, \vec{y})$ serves as the fundamental building block of the PEE structure. Any two-point PEE $\mathcal{I}(\vec{x}, \vec{y})$ can be geometrized by the bulk geodesic connecting two boundary points $\vec{x}$ and $\vec{y}$, which we call the PEE thread, with the density of the threads determined by the boundary PEE structure. In the AdS bulk, the set of all the PEE threads forms a continuous ``network'', which we call the PEE network. In this paper, we show that the density of the PEE threads passing through any bulk point is exactly $1/(4G)$. Based on this observation we give a reformulation of the Ryu-Takayanagi (RT) formula for a generic boundary region in general dimensional Poincar\'e AdS space. More explicitly, for any static boundary region $A$, the homologous surface $\Sigma_{A}$ that has the minimal number of intersections with the bulk PEE network is exactly the RT surface of $A$, and the minimal number of intersections reproduces the holographic entanglement entropy. The reconstruction for the area of bulk geometric quantities by counting the number of intersections with the bulk PEE network applies to generic bulk geometric quantities. Interestingly, this reconstruction indicates a pure geometric statement, which is exactly the so-called \emph{Crofton formula} in Poincar\'e AdS.

hep-th

Cutoff brane vs the Karch-Randall brane: the fluctuating case

Recently, certain holographic Weyl transformed CFT$_2$ is proposed to capture the main features of the AdS$_3$/BCFT$_2$ correspondence \cite{Basu:2022crn,Basu:2023wmv}. In this paper, by adapting the Weyl transformation, we simulate a generalized AdS/BCFT set-up where the fluctuation of the Karch-Randall (KR) brane is considered. In the gravity dual of the Weyl transformed CFT, the so-called cutoff brane induced by the Weyl transformation plays the same role as the KR brane. Unlike the non-fluctuating configuration, in the $2d$ effective theory the additional twist operator is inserted at a different place, compared with the one inserted on the brane. Though this is well-understood in the Weyl transformed CFT set-up, it is confusing in the AdS/BCFT set-up where the effective theory is supposed to locate on the brane. This confusion indicates that the KR brane may be emergent from the boundary CFT$_2$ via the Weyl transformations. We also calculate the balanced partial entanglement (BPE) in the fluctuating brane configurations and find it coincide with the entanglement wedge cross-section (EWCS). This is a non-trivial test for the correspondence between the BPE and the EWCS, and a non-trivial consistency check for the Weyl transformed CFT set-up.

hep-th

Teaching Robots to Build Simulations of Themselves

The emergence of vision catalysed a pivotal evolutionary advancement, enabling organisms not only to perceive but also to interact intelligently with their environment. This transformation is mirrored by the evolution of robotic systems, where the ability to leverage vision to simulate and predict their own dynamics marks a leap towards autonomy and self-awareness. Humans utilize vision to record experiences and internally simulate potential actions. For example, we can imagine that, if we stand up and raise our arms, the body will form a T shape without physical movement. Similarly, simulation allows robots to plan and predict the outcomes of potential actions without execution. Here we introduce a self-supervised learning framework to enable robots to model and predict their morphology, kinematics and motor control using only brief raw video data, eliminating the need for extensive real-world data collection and kinematic priors. By observing their own movements, akin to humans watching their reflection in a mirror, robots learn an ability to simulate themselves and predict their spatial motion for various tasks. Our results demonstrate that this self-learned simulation not only enables accurate motion planning but also allows the robot to detect abnormalities and recover from damage.

cs.RO

Geometrizing the Partial Entanglement Entropy: from PEE Threads to Bit Threads

We give a scheme to geometrize the partial entanglement entropy (PEE) for holographic CFT in the context of AdS/CFT. More explicitly, given a point $\textbf{x}$ we geometrize the two-point PEEs between $\textbf{x}$ and any other points in terms of the bulk geodesics connecting these two points. We refer to these geodesics as the \textit{PEE threads}, which can be naturally regarded as the integral curves of a divergenceless vector field $V_{\textbf{x}}^{\mu}$, which we call \emph{PEE thread flow}. The norm of $V_{\textbf{x}}^{\mu}$ that characterizes the density of the PEE threads can be determined by some physical requirements of the PEE. We show that, for any static interval or spherical region $A$, a unique bit thread configuration can be generated from the PEE thread configuration determined by the state. Hence, the non-intrinsic bit threads are emergent from the intrinsic PEE threads. For static disconnected intervals, the vector fields describing a divergenceless flow is are longer suitable to reproduce the RT formula. We weight the PEE threads with the number of times it intersects with any homologous surface. Instead the RT formula is perfectly reformulated to be the minimization of the summation of the PEE threads with all possible assignment of weights.

hep-th

Knolling Bot: Teaching Robots the Human Notion of Tidiness

For robots to truly collaborate and assist humans, they must understand not only logic and instructions, but also the subtle emotions, aesthetics, and feelings that define our humanity. Human art and aesthetics are among the most elusive concepts-often difficult even for people to articulate-and without grasping these fundamentals, robots will be unable to help in many spheres of daily life. Consider the long-promised robotic butler: automating domestic chores demands more than motion planning. It requires an internal model of cleanliness and tidiness-a challenge largely unexplored by AI. To bridge this gap, we propose an approach that equips domestic robots to perform simple tidying tasks via knolling, the practice of arranging scattered items into neat, space-efficient layouts. Unlike the uniformity of industrial settings, household environments feature diverse objects and highly subjective notions of tidiness. Drawing inspiration from NLP, we treat knolling as a sequential prediction problem and employ a transformer based model to forecast each object's placement. Our method learns a generalizable concept of tidiness, generates diverse solutions adaptable to varying object sets, and incorporates human preferences for personalized arrangements. This work represents a step forward in building robots that internalize human aesthetic sense and can genuinely co-create in our living spaces.

cs.RO

Ownerless island and partial entanglement entropy in island phases

In the context of partial entanglement entropy (PEE), we study the entanglement structure of the island phases realized in several 2-dimensional holographic set-ups. The self-encoding property of the island phase changes the way we evaluate the PEE. With the contributions from islands taken into account, we give a generalized prescription to construct PEE and balanced partial entanglement entropy (BPE). Here the ownerless island region, which lies inside the island $\text{Is}(AB)$ of $A\cup B$ but outside $\text{Is}(A)\cup \text{Is}(B)$, plays a crucial role. Remarkably, we find that under different assignments for the ownerless island, we get different BPEs, which exactly correspond to different saddles of the entanglement wedge cross-section (EWCS) in the entanglement wedge of $A\cup B$. The assignments can be settled by choosing the one that minimizes the BPE. Furthermore, under this assignment we study the PEE and give a geometric picture for the PEE in holography, which is consistent with the geometric picture in the no-island phases.

hep-th

The Markov gap in the presence of islands

The Markov gap \cite{Hayden:2021gno}, namely the difference between reflected entropy and mutual information, is explicitly computed in the defect extremal surface model, JT gravity, and the generic 2d extremal black holes, in vacuum states. The phases that contain various island contributions are considered, and their existence is carefully checked. Moreover, we show explicitly how the Markov gap originates from the OPE coefficient of the boundary CFT. And, as a generalization of \cite{Hayden:2021gno}, the lower bound of the Markov gap is given by $\frac{c}{3}\log 2$ times the number of EWCS boundaries on minimal surfaces. We propose a boundary way of counting the lower bound for the Markov gap, which states that the lower bound is given by $\frac{c}{3}\log 2$ times the number of gaps between two boundary regions in vacuum states. We discuss the limitation and possible generalization of the boundary counting, and its relation to tripartite entanglement.

hep-th

Effective reflected entropy and entanglement negativity for general 2D eternal black holes

Both reflected entropy and entanglement negativity provide valid measures of entanglement between subsystems of a mixed state. For general 2D eternal black holes coupled with CFT matters in large $c$ limit, we perform the replica-trick computation and find that both effective Renyi reflected entropy and effective entanglement negativity can be expressed in terms of the combination of modified backreacting cosmic branes in $\mathrm{AdS}_3$ bulk. We then develop a holographic scheme to calculate effective reflected entropy and entanglement negativity for general 2D eternal black holes coupled with CFT matters in large $c$ limit. Using the scheme, we check the consistency condition of the island formulae for entanglement negativity and reflected entropy. We find that the combinations of modified backreacting cosmic branes in $\mathrm{AdS}_3$ bulk from the two island proposals of entanglement negativity exactly match with each other. Finally, we study the saturation of the reflected entropy inequality.

hep-th

Primordial black holes and scalar induced gravitational waves from Higgs inflation with non-canonical kinetic term

We resolve the potential-restriction problem in K/G inflation by introducing nonminimal coupling. In this context, Higgs field successfully drives inflation satisfying CMB observations while enhancing curvature perturbations at small scales, which in turn accounts for primordial black holes (PBHs) and scalar induced gravitational waves (SIGWs). We then uncover the effect of the non-canonical kinetic coupling function in more detail and study its the observational constraint. Besides, we also give the gauge invariant expression for the integral kernel of SIGWs, which is related to terms propagating with the speed of light. Finally, the non-Gaussian effect on PBH abundance and SIGWs is studied. We find that non-Gaussianity makes PBHs form more easily, but its effect on the energy density of SIGWs is negligible.

gr-qc

Double-peaked inflation model: Scalar induced gravitational waves and primordial-black-hole suppression from primordial non-Gaussianity

A significant abundance of primordial black hole (PBH) dark matter can be produced by curvature perturbations with power spectrum $\Delta_\zeta^2(k_{\mathrm{peak}})\sim \mathcal{O}(10^{-2})$ at small scales, associated with the generation of observable scalar induced gravitational waves (SIGWs). However, the primordial non-Gaussianity may play a non-negligible role, which is not usually considered. We propose two inflation models that predict double peaks of order $\mathcal{O}(10^{-2})$ in the power spectrum and study the effects of primordial non-Gaussianity on PBHs and SIGWs. This model is driven by a power-law potential, and has a noncanonical kinetic term whose coupling function admits two peaks. By field-redefinition, it can be recast into a canonical inflation model with two quasi-inflection points in the potential. We find that the PBH abundance will be altered saliently if non-Gaussianity parameter satisfies $|f_{\mathrm{NL}}(k_{\text{peak}},k_{\text{peak}},k_{\text{peak}})|\gtrsim \Delta^2_{\zeta}(k_{\mathrm{peak}})/(23\delta^3_c) \sim \mathcal{O}(10^{-2})$. Whether the PBH abundance is suppressed or enhanced depends on the $f_{\mathrm{NL}}$ being positive or negative, respectively. In our model, non-Gaussianity parameter $f_{\mathrm{NL}}(k_{\mathrm{peak}},k_{\mathrm{peak}},k_{\mathrm{peak}})\sim \mathcal{O}(1)$ takes positive sign, thus PBH abundance is suppressed dramatically. On the contrary, SIGWs are insensitive to primordial non-Gaussianity and hardly affected, so they are still within the sensitivities of space-based GWs observatories and Square Kilometer Array.

gr-qc

Islands in Kaluza-Klein black holes

The newly proposed island formula for entanglement entropy of Hawking radiation is applied to spherically symmetric 4-dimensional eternal Kaluza-Klein (KK) black hole. The "charge" $Q$ of KK black holes quantifies its deviation from Schwarzschild black holes. The impact of $Q$ on the island is studied at late times. The late-time island, whose boundary is located outside but within a Planckian distance of the horizon, is slightly extended by $Q$. While the no-island entropy grows linearly, the late-time entanglement entropy is given by island configuration with twice the Bekenstein-Hawking entropy. Thus we reproduce the Page curve for the eternal KK black holes. Compared with Schwarzschild results, the Page time is delayed by a factor $(1+Q/r_h)$ and the scrambling time is prolonged by a factor $(1+Q/r_h)^{1/2}$. Moreover, the higher-dimensional generalization is presented. Skeptically, there are Planck length scales involved, in which a semi-classical description may break down.

hep-th

Primordial Non-Gaussianity from G-inflation

Enormous information about interactions is contained in the non-Gaussianities of the primordial curvature perturbations, which are essential to break the degeneracy of inflationary models. We study the primordial bispectra for G-inflation models predicting both sharp and broad peaks in the primordial scalar power spectrum. We calculate the non-Gaussianity parameter $f_{\mathrm{NL}}$ in the equilateral limit and squeezed limit numerically, and confirm that the consistency relation holds in these models. Even though $f_{\mathrm{NL}}$ becomes large at the scales before the power spectrum reaches the peak and the scales where there are wiggles in the power spectrum, it remains to be small at the peak scales. Therefore, the contributions of non-Gaussianity to the scalar induced secondary gravitational waves and primordial black hole abundance are expected to be negligible.

astro-ph.CO