# Graph learning in robotics: a survey

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2310.04294 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2310.04294/

## Key facts

- Cited by 5 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- Builds on 100 of its 157 references that are in the map.
- First posted on arXiv 6 Oct 2023.

## Builds on (most cited first, 30 of 100)

- [Attention Is All You Need](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1706.03762/) (2017)
- [Semi-Supervised Classification with Graph Convolutional Networks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1609.02907/) (2016)
- [Graph Attention Networks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1710.10903/) (2017)
- [Inductive Representation Learning on Large Graphs](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1706.02216/) (2017)
- [How Powerful are Graph Neural Networks?](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1810.00826/) (2018)
- [Learning Phrase Representations using RNN Encoder-Decoder for Statistical Machine Translation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1406.1078/) (2014)
- [Neural Message Passing for Quantum Chemistry](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1704.01212/) (2017)
- [Quo Vadis, Action Recognition? A New Model and the Kinetics Dataset](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1705.07750/) (2017)
- [A Comprehensive Survey on Graph Neural Networks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1901.00596/) (2019)
- [Dynamic Graph CNN for Learning on Point Clouds](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1801.07829/) (2018)
- [Convolutional Neural Networks on Graphs with Fast Localized Spectral Filtering](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1606.09375/) (2016)
- [Graph Neural Networks: A Review of Methods and Applications](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1812.08434/) (2018)
- [Ego4D: Around the World in 3,000 Hours of Egocentric Video](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2110.07058/) (2021)
- [Spectral Networks and Locally Connected Networks on Graphs](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1312.6203/) (2013)
- [Learning to Simulate Complex Physics with Graph Networks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2002.09405/) (2020)
- [Learning Mesh-Based Simulation with Graph Networks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2010.03409/) (2020)
- [Gated Graph Sequence Neural Networks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1511.05493/) (2015)
- [Scaling Egocentric Vision: The EPIC-KITCHENS Dataset](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1804.02748/) (2018)
- [Convolutional Networks on Graphs for Learning Molecular Fingerprints](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1509.09292/) (2015)
- [Graph Neural Networks for Social Recommendation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1902.07243/) (2019)
- [Hollywood in Homes: Crowdsourcing Data Collection for Activity Understanding](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1604.01753/) (2016)
- [Interaction Networks for Learning about Objects, Relations and Physics](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1612.00222/) (2016)
- [Principal Neighbourhood Aggregation for Graph Nets](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2004.05718/) (2020)
- [Geometric deep learning on graphs and manifolds using mixture model CNNs](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1611.08402/) (2016)
- [Explainability in Graph Neural Networks: A Taxonomic Survey](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2012.15445/) (2020)
- [Dynamic Edge-Conditioned Filters in Convolutional Neural Networks on Graphs](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1704.02901/) (2017)
- [Assembly101: A Large-Scale Multi-View Video Dataset for Understanding Procedural Activities](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2203.14712/) (2022)
- [Deep Convolutional Networks on Graph-Structured Data](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1506.05163/) (2015)
- [6-DOF GraspNet: Variational Grasp Generation for Object Manipulation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1905.10520/) (2019)
- [Molecular Graph Convolutions: Moving Beyond Fingerprints](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1603.00856/) (2016)

## Built on by (most cited first, 5 of 5)

- [A Backpack Full of Skills: Egocentric Video Understanding with Diverse Task Perspectives](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2403.03037/) (2024)
- [Hier-EgoPack: Hierarchical Egocentric Video Understanding with Diverse Task Perspectives](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2502.02487/) (2025)
- [NAR-*ICP: Neural Execution of Classical ICP-based Pointcloud Registration Algorithms](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2410.11031/) (2024)
- [Knowledge Graph Completion for Action Prediction on Situational Graphs -- A Case Study on Household Tasks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2508.13675/) (2025)
- [α-Graph: Attention-Infused Normalizing Flow Approach to Tractable Graph Modeling](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2609.07961/) (2026)

## Abstract (arXiv)

Deep neural networks for graphs have emerged as a powerful tool for learning on complex non-euclidean data, which is becoming increasingly common for a variety of different applications. Yet, although their potential has been widely recognised in the machine learning community, graph learning is largely unexplored for downstream tasks such as robotics applications. To fully unlock their potential, hence, we propose a review of graph neural architectures from a robotics perspective. The paper covers the fundamentals of graph-based models, including their architecture, training procedures, and applications. It also discusses recent advancements and challenges that arise in applied settings, related for example to the integration of perception, decision-making, and control. Finally, the paper provides an extensive review of various robotic applications that benefit from learning on graph structures, such as bodies and contacts modelling, robotic manipulation, action recognition, fleet motion planning, and many more. This survey aims to provide readers with a thorough understanding of the capabilities and limitations of graph neural architectures in robotics, and to highlight potential avenues for future research.